Personal Split
by Vanwild13
Summary: A boy named Erin is born with split personality disorder, but that doesn't stop him from trying to become a huntsmen. How he does it might interest you. Note that this is my first fanfic so I don't expect it to be the best ever so leave me some advice to follow so I may improve if you want, thanks and enjoy. Rated M for mature Note: I do not own any RWBY characters only my OC
1. Chapter 1

Personal Split

A RWBY fanfic

By Donovan Ray Castillo

* * *

Chapter 1

Remnant, a world divided into four kingdoms known as Vacuo, Vale, Atlas, and Mistral. All of them sheltering humanity from the evil forms of darkness that are commonly known as Grimm. Grimm have been around since….forever, yeah no one really knows where they come from or how they even exist. They come in several forms such as wolfs, bears, giant birds, ect., and it doesn't help scientists study them because the bodies disappear after being killed. The kingdoms of Remnant work hard to combat this foe, whether they are using the elemental forces of dust (which is a natural resource that can be used as fuel, ammo, or weaponized), a strong disciplined military of well trained soldiers, or what every kingdom always has… HUNTSMEN! Huntsmen and huntresses are individuals who dedicate themselves to protecting their kingdom and the neighboring villages. They are trained at the academies of each kingdom, not to be soldiers but warriors, heroes of tomorrow, basically the best of the best for slaying Grimm or fighting off the White Fang, I won't get into them yet, it's time for the real story to begin, so please enjoy.

The kingdom of Vale has vast green lush forests, mountains that tower above the clouds, and quite a few neighboring villages. One of those villages, being quite far from the city of Vale, takes its place in a well fortified area, a large mountain range that acts as a wall to cover the rear of the village leaving the front exposed to a large grassy green forest with more mountains in the distance. Half of the village is built up higher close to the mountain which is to be considered more of the town area for shopping and certain jobs, while the other half built more in the forest was meant for housing residents, camping, hunting, farming, there's even a port built by a decent sized lake for fishing and a couple of nearby small waterfalls and streams for clean water. The forest does contain some Grimm, but the village has its own defense force of men and women who stand guard at the borders of the village, a few huntsmen would visit to do either missions or find a place to rest till they went on their way. Yes the village Bergseite seemed to be a strong thriving village of happy civilians, one of those civilians being an eleven year old boy named Erin who has a future of adventure and pain.

* * *

**Erin's POV:**

"*huff* *huff*". It was dark and raining… "*huff*, GO, KEEP RUNNING!** *huff*"**... yet I could still hear the snarling of hunger and their feet pouncing on the ground, breaking sticks and branches in their path. "Mommy I'm scared!", "Just keep your eyes closed sweetheart well be ok!" the mother in front of me said trying to comfort the girl in her arms, I was so tired. "_Erin"._ Aura drained and my body was covered with cuts and blood, but Imanaged to keep pushing forward, then I noticed the woman in front of me stopped, then I knew why once I caught up with her. A cliff above us cut off our path, nothing but a rock wall in front of us.

I cursed under my breath and started to pull at my hair out of stress and…"_ERIN"_... ok was I going crazy or do I keep hearing my name, I thought to myself looking around, but my attention was redirected to the rustling leaves and snapping branches behind me. "aaaawwww damit, alright you two stay behind me ok?", "but your…" "No!..." I said cutting her off "... I'll hold them off while you run, get your daughter to safety understood" I said a bit sternly. She nodded with a sad smile "Thank *sob* you" she said crying, I gave her a bit more of a brighter smile before turning back to the three Grimm in front of me with a new determination in my eyes and a mean scowl, I drew my sword from its sheath with a long lasting...

*_**ssshhiinnk***_.

Three beowulfs one on the left, one on the right and the alpha in the middle, the rest of the pack I had already been taken care of, it was the alpha I had a hard time with. The Grimm stared at us with death in their burning red eyes, licking their teeth with an anticipating hunger, I stared back daggers that probably could've killed a man. I took my combat stance, sword pointing at the alpha, body drenched in water and a little blood. A lightning strike in the background lit the area for a split second before it went dark again. "**RRRRRAAAAAHHH!"**, the alpha gave a thunderous roar, as they charged at me I gave my own battle cry while full sprinting at them "**YAAAAAAAA!"**, and just as the battle was about to begin

"_**ERIN!"**_.

"GUH! *huff* *huff*" I woke with my body jolting up from my bed, my breathing was heavy and I was sweating.

"Erin are you awake?".

I heard my uncle call from down stairs, "y-YEAH!sorry Im coming!". I threw the blankets off me and ran to my bathroom rinsing my face with water and looking at my face in the mirror "pbpbpbpbpb", I blew through my lips, "Just another dream… damn." I said with disappointment, I would love to be a huntsman if we didn't live so far from Vale city, but uncle Matt say's that were fine here and that huntsmen usually get into trouble and danger and that I shouldn't be put in those positions. I ran some water threw my brown hair and left, only to come back and get the gunk out of my brown eyes, then left the bathroom.

I went downstairs to see my uncle Matt putting breakfast on the table, "Did you sleep in again?" he asked.

"What makes you think that." I casually said.

" You're still in your PJ's and your hair looks like shit" Uncle Matt said scratching his scruffy beard.

"Craaaap." I groaned.

Uncle Matt gave a shit eating grin, "Mmhmm, now eat your breakfast and get changed, you got a delivery to Lagarto's Cafe so don't be late.".

"I won't," I said, grabbing my breakfast from the table and started for the stairs.

"Eat down here Erin." uncle Matt said.

I sighed in annoyance "Whyyy, I don't make messes." I whined a little.

"Yet I'm always having to clean up your plates and silverware, so I'll respect your choice to eat upstairs when you start respecting the cleanliness of our home cool, cool." he had an amused smile on his face from making his point as he put his dirty dishes in the sink and began cleaning them.

After finishing my breakfast I made my way to my room to get ready for the day. Throwing on a black T-shirt with a gray over shirt leaving the buttons undone, a pair of jeans, and black boots with the pant legs stuffed in the boot. I stood in front of my mirror to check myself out, I was skinny, but I had muscle still, being lean wasn't bad, I rather liked the way my body turned out from all the labor of being a fisher,

"_Ok we get it you're in love with yourself can we get a move on."_ Kore said in his head.

"I'm just admiring my sexiness bro." I replied, making my way to the bathroom.

"_Well I think you look great Erin, I speak for Kore when I say that too."_ a giddy Feliz chuckled in my head.

"See Kore some people aren't afraid to admit how they really feel." I added amusingly.

"_Dear god you're a kiss ass Feliz."_ Kore replied which made me chuckle hard at how quick he replied.

I got to the bathroom with slight tears in my eyes from laughter, "Uuuggghhh man that's funny, ok time to freshen up." I say as I proceed to brush my teeth and then do my hair by simply taking some water and giving my hair a messy look that I felt fit me well.

I take a step back from the mirror to admire my hair, actually feeling pretty go-"_Looks like shit" _Kore said, interrupting my thought process.

"_HAHAHAHAHAHA!"_ Chestnut laughed in the background at Kores criticism.

"Hey up yours Kore it's good, alright now let's go make that delivery." I cheerfully exited my room.

Having DID isn't so bad, it just takes a little getting used to is all. I've got a total of four different personalities that have certain characteristics that make them different.

Kore is a bit of a grump sometimes, he likes to complain especially about the little things, but on good days he just won't care and stays quiet until he feels like adding his opinion on a subject. Despite the tough obsidian wall he puts up he cares about us though he just doesn't think we know, but I do.

Feliz is not afraid to express how he feels about anything, he loves showing love in friendly ways as hugs, high fives, and just overall talking to people, he's got a good heart though Feliz has aspergers (a mild autism and social disorder) that prevents him from proper communication with other people and sometimes being awkward, but he's gotten better at socializing and I'm proud of his progress, Feliz will continue to be the kindest soul of us all.

Hugo is a humble, gentleman that is favored most by my uncle because Hugo is apparent on cleanliness and getting work done, he can be a brainiac sometimes and rambles on about why we should do this or that and bla bla bla bull crap, but he does use the most common sense out of all of us so when were in a situation for making decisions or solving a problem, Hugo's always thinking of a plan and I'm glad to have him.

Last but not least Chestnut, now Chestnut has a few loose screws… actually he has no screws he lost them all from the moment he was in my head, Chestnut is a bit psychotic that can get creepy if not contained soon, he's a risk taker that basically opposes anything Hugo has to say, they've only ever agreed on their favorite ice cream being pistachio which to me is gross. Chestnut would literally jump off a bridge if someone told him, I remember him taking control one time just to say yes to that when uncle Matt was lecturing me after some stupid things me and my friends did… I'm still a bit pissed about having to clean every… piece… of equipment we owned for that, so overall Chestnut is a dumbass.

In a way I hate them all yet I love them, don't get me wrong they do become too much sometimes and I really don't know how to handle it, but I wouldn't trade them for the world.

I made my way downstairs to see my uncle zipping up his black leather jacket and proceeded to tie the laces on his dirty brown boots as I made my way to the front door ready to make this delivery. "Alright, I'm off now uncle Matt see ya in a bit" I scurried to the door.

"Hair looks like shit" he replied instantly.

"You have a good day too, love ya" I said positively which made my uncle chuckle softly…... "Oh shut up Kore!" I said walking out the door which caused my uncle to break into a hearty laugh. He knows about my disorder and he's cool with it, he really is the best Uncle ever and I love him a lot.

At least things are better now than they used to be.

* * *

**Narrators POV:**

Wheeling a cart of crated fish to the main town is just a part of Erins physical activity. At first, it was a difficult task for a young kid like him, these crates hold coolers of fish and ice, but in time he really developed a good pair of legs and stamina as he delivered more and more fish. The money wasn't much for the delivering part of this job, but it was enough for living a life with a house and food.

Though they were fishers, they got sick of **JUST** fish for meals, so they usually just sell what extra fish they have in the market that's in the housing area of the village. Erin made his way over to the cart of fish under the tree covered in tarp while also listening to the conversation his personalities were having in his head.

"Alrighty then lets get this thing up there." Erin said as he turned to look at his head, but as he was about to start pulling the cart.

"_Wait Erin shouldn't we do an inventory check." _Hugo quickly reminded.

"Why uncle Matt put these in himself, he's not really one to make mistakes for package orders" Erin replied, but Kore spoke up.

"_Actually I think we should do it." _his statement taking the others by surprise.

"_Wow you actually agree with me Kore?"_ Hugo said in a surprised tone.

"Yeah Kore since when did you actually start caring about delivery?" Erin asked.

"_He's always kinda cared guys, it's just one of those repressed feelings he has." _Feliz intervened in the conversation.

"_Shut up Feliz..."_ Kore got on to him, which Chestnut only snickered. "_I only care about us not getting our asses chewed out if something just so happens to be wrong in the delivery, it's annoying having to listen to Ms. Lagarto scold over a missing crate. I mean how can her son even live with that kinda nagging!?" _Kore ranted.

Hugo had enough "_Ok we've wasted enough time I'll do it." _Hugo exclaimed, suddenly Erin's eyes twitched and blinked rapidly before his brown eyes turned brown to purple.

With Hugo now being in control he lifted the tarp off the crates and began to open a crate to begin the inventory check.

Erin now being in his own head "_DAMN YOU HUGO!" _he mentaly shouted trying to regain control.

"Quit trying to fight me Erin, the faster I get this done the faster we'll be on our way" Hugo didn't know why, but he's always had this accent in his voice that he couldn't figure out which kingdom it's supposed to be from, nor did any of the townspeople know, at least when he was in control to ask around (think of his accent as a Samurai Jack accent or Japanese, but note he's not Japanese).

* * *

A few minutes passed by of opening crates and a little argument between Hugo and Erin, and once Hugo was on his last crate.

"Hey!" uncle Matt shouted a bit causing Hugo to shoot his head up.

"Erin what are yo-" he suddenly noticed the purple in his nephew's eyes "*sigh* Hugo what are you doing" his tone being a bit more blank of annoyance.

"I'm doing a quick inventory check, make sure we are one hundred precent good to go." Hugo reassured.

"Well hurry up, the ice shouldn't be out in this weather for too long ok?".

"*sigh* Yes sir." Hugo said putting the crate back into the cart with the rest and pulling the tarp back over them.

"Don't call me sir, makes me feel old, you know that." Uncle Matt said walking off to begin his day of work.

Hugo had a small laugh at that, "Ok I'm done." he said before giving Erin back control.

Erins eye's twitching back to brown, "I told you to at least warn me when you're going to do that before you guys." he said rubbing his eyes.

"_But we didn't do anything, it was all Hugo."_ Feliz said in an innocent voice.

"It goes for all of you Feliz, now let's get this cart delivered already.".

Erin grabbed both of the handles on the side of the cart and began to pull it out from the cool shade and into the warm sunlight, waves of heat already licking his face and exposed skin. It was only a three minute walk at most to the town's entrance, but the beating waves of the sun's heat made it feel longer. Walking through the village he always got a lot of "Hi's." and "Hellos." from the people going about their business, Felize always loved the way we got along with everyone, some already knew about his condition and like to say "How's it going yall." to them which was amusing.

The toughest part of every delivery to town was coming up and if Erin was being honest to himself, he was excited. Erin enjoyed the feeling of his leg muscles burning and then the sweet relief of his legs cooling off once he made it to the top of the hill. Looking up the cobblestone path that leads straight to town he breathed "*inhaaaaaaale* *exhaaaaale* Alright let's do this!" Erin said excitedly as he began running up the hill, his legs already getting a little heated and a few beads of sweat rolling down his neck, the sun wasn't helping. He was hoping a cloud would cause some overcast on him but he wasn't going to look up and see, that would slow him down. The cart was making a bunch of noise, crates where hitting each other and the wheels were squeaking.

"_Erin you should slow down." _Hugo said, a little concerned.

"_No, put your legs into it and go faster!" _Chestnut exclaimed.

"_Chestnut you fool, the cart might break from this strain, Erin we need to slow down."_ Hugo lashed at the crazy voice.

"_God you guys can be annoying" _Kore affirmed, not making the situation better.

"_Hugo why do you have to always b-"._

"Stop! Stop! I'm slowing down alright, damn why is it usually an argument when ya'll talk to each other we're supposed to be getting along" Erin snapped, causing everyone to hold their thoughts.

"_I'm glad we're all friends."_ Feliz said, trying to lighten the mood.

* * *

The rest of the walk was mostly in silence, Erin liked his other personalities but he wasn't sure if they liked each other, maybe if there was a way to just separate them from each other they would have some breathing room and could actually get along, but that was impossible and he knew it. He was so lost in thought that he hadn't realized he made it to the town wall. There was a fortified stone and wood wall that stood as the entrance to the town and would serve as the last line of defense if the village was under a Grimm attack. The large doors were always open for people to pass through and guards stood watch for suspicious activity, there were rumors once of a possible White Fang group taking refuge in the village, but that case was soon shut down by our town authorities.

Erin began making his way to the entrance.

"Hey Erin!" one of the guards shouted, giving a two fingered wave at the boy.

Erin looked up to see him waving at him "What's up Chad" Erin shouted back.

"Just on duty again, you got another delivery?" Chad small talked.

"Yeah, I gotta get going though, I'll see you around" Erin dismissed the conversation.

"See ya" he said as we both waved goodbye to each other. Everyone was either going to work, walking their dog, grabbing a coffee, or bike riding. We didn't have cars though, our village isn't that big, the town does go up further in the mountains a little, but that wasn't where he was going. Lagarto's Cafe was uncle Matt's best selling customer. Ms. Lagarto and her son live at the restaurant on the second floor as a way of saving money, it's a rather nice looking place, its decorative design of blue, yellow, and the large fish sign over the entrance make it stand out from the rest of the buildings near it. The town buildings were built neater than those built in the forest area, but he wasn't complaining he rather liked the design of their house, he's lived in it for all his life as far as he could remember.

* * *

Erin was just arriving at the cafe when he felt a hand on his shoulder yanked him from the cart and into the ally to his left. His yell was muffled by a hand over his mouth and two other pairs of arms held his arms back. Erin couldn't get out of the hold from his attackers and his rough thrashing and kicking only made the grips on his arms and wrists tighter until finally he was thrown to the ground.

"Gggrrraaahhh!" Erin growled getting to his feet and wiping his mouth, "What the- awww dammit.".

"Well well well long time no see Erin, you still smell like fish and hair looks like shit still." It was Erin's worst and really his only group of enemies; Berit, Gash, and Drake.

"_I would have laughed at that if these guys weren't douchebags". _

Erin ignored Kore and slowly backed up as the smiling trio of asswholes moved in on him.

This wasn't his first encounter with these idiots, but if he didn't escape they would only be just as ruthless with him as they were last time. He would have turned and ran if there wasn't a fence blocking his path, the metal fence rattled as he bumped into it. There was only one other option he could think of.

"_Erin wait!"_ Hugo yelled, but Erins mind was already made up.

Going for Berit in the middle, he delivered three quick punches to his rib cage, but Berit grabbed his fist and sucker punched him across the face, spinning Erin around so he was facing the fence crouching, one hand holding his jaw, the other grasping the rings in the fence. A brown aura flared around Erin's body as it took most of that force from the punch.

Yeah Erin had aura, unlocked it in what should have been his death when a motor boat hit him in the head when it was being lifted from the water, but Erin got his aura last second as if the situation triggered it to life, and even though it wasn't a strong aura it could handle a couple punches to the face.

Gash scoffed "That stupid aura of yours really takes the fun from beating you up if we can't even hurt you" Gash complained.

"Don't worry fellas, with enough hits from all three of us we'll break him eventually" Berite exclaimed.

"Well let's get to work" Drake said with a laugh.

The trio closed in on Erins still slumped form, but then as fast as light Erin launched his body at Berit and sent a punch much harder than the last three straight to his nose.

"AAAHHH!" Berit held his now bleeding nose in pain, causing Drake and Gash to take a couple steps back looking at their bleeding friend then back to Erin, and what they saw made them gasp in a little fear.

Erin now had a red aura around him with bright red angry eyes " **YOU HAVE NO IDEA HOW MUCH TROUBLE YOU ARE IN.**" Kore said in a deep intimidating tone, his words spat venom at the trio.

"Get _ssssss_ aaahhh-" Berit winced holding his nose again "-him!" he ordered.

Gash and Drake looked at each other wondering if this was a good idea.

"**RRRAAAHHH!**" Kore roared like a lion charging at the two, and they did the same, but they managed to hook Kores arms with theirs pinning him against the fence.

"Berit he's doing that thing again where he changes his voice and eyes" Gash said struggling to keep Kore pinned.

Kore put up twice the fight that Erin did, his struggle was more wild, his grunts were more primal with a little spit coming from his mouth.

What shut him up was a punch square to the mouth, making his head shoot back into the fence, his aura taking most of the force.

"Little bastard" Berit said bitterly gut punching Kore which made his head come down to his chest as he started going through a coughing fit. Berit landed a final blow with an uppercut, making Kores head slam back into the fence with a rattle, a little blood went flying from his mouth from his aura beginning to drain. "You're gonna get more than just a few bruises today." Berit snarled.

Kore spat blood in his face.

"_Kore you fool!" _Hugo shouted.

"You've done it now," Berit said, wiping the blood from his face and rearing his arm back for another punch which was delivered in the blink of an eye.

Erin was back in control now, but there were stars in his vision and a ringing in his ears; his body began to slump.

"HEY!" a new voice yelled from behind the trio, the three looked behind them to see a man in a yellow apron with a blue work shirt and white work pants holding a broom in his hands, as if ready for a fight.

"CRAP!" Drake said letting go of Erin.

"Come on, let's get out of here." Gash said in panic, also dropping Erin.

The trio quickly climbed over the fence making their escape.

"_I'M GONNA KILL THEM WHEN I SEE THEM NEXT TIME!"_ Kore growled in anger.

"_Their foolish actions will not go without future justice." _Hugo spoke up.

"_Erin are you ok?" _Feliz said concerned and it only worried him more when Erin didn't respond.

* * *

**ERINS POV:**

My body went completely numb from that last punch, my head was dizzy and ears were ringing, yet I could hear muffled voices of what I think were my personalities, but there was a different voice calling my name that wasn't one of them. Next thing I know there's a face in my vision but everything seems to be cloudy and I couldn't make out the face, but I think he was calling my name; he said some other stuff but I couldn't make it out. Then he began lightly smacking my face as if he was trying to get me to come out of my faze which seemed to be working slowly.

**NARRATORS POV:**

Erin just stared blankly at the guy crouching in front of him.

"Erin! ERIN!, DAMN THOSE STUPID KIDS! It's ok buddy I got you." he said lifting him into his lap, Erin's eyes only half way open now. "Hey now come on stay awake man." he said softly slapping his face to keep him awake, his yellow eyes boring into Erin's brown.

"Uuuggghhh… Re… Renald." Erin croaked, starting to regain his senses.

"Yeah! Yeah it's me Erin, come on let me get you inside.

''Ok" Erin replied with exhaustion weighing down his words.

Erin was now slumped in one of the cafe booths resting his head on the window looking out at the people passing by, dry blood caked under his nose, and the taste of blood still lingered in his mouth from a couple cuts in his mouth. His aura was slow when it came to recharging itself, and ever since he got it he's only made mild improvements with it, not knowing how to make it stronger. He would ask some of the guards that have aura to teach him how to use it and make it stronger, but he worried that his uncle would get suspicious and that would only bring trouble.

Reginald came and sat at the booth putting a glass of water, wet rag, and some ice in front of him. Erin downed the water in a couple of heart beats, wiped the blood from his face, and put the ice in place.

"(sniff) Thanks." Erin said in a gloomy tone.

"No problem, sorry I didn't get there sooner."

Erin shook his head at this, "Don't go beating yourself over this, this isn't your fault. I just hope I'm not getting you in trouble by having you take care of me" Erin felt guilty.

"No No your fine man" Reginald said waving his hands and shaking his head trying to get that thought out of Erins head, but the door behind the counter burst open with an elderly woman wearing an annoyed expression came storming up to the counter.

"REGGIE! You are a cook not a doctor, why is this sad boy bleeding in my cafe!" her voice was definitely painful to the ears.

"(sigh) Mom this is Erin he delivers our fish, including the shipment we got today." he said trying to get his mom to remember his face.

"I don't care if he is a Schnee. I want him out before we open, understand." she ordered while placing a board on the counter behind the rows of several fish on display followed by laying out a wet cold fish. She raised a blade in one hand ready to dismember the fish.

"Oh my God mom." Reginald groaned.

"Don't get snippy with me young man, I control your checks." she pointed the blade at him before chopping off the fish head.

"I'm nineteen mom I'm not a kid anymore.".

The Lagartos began their bickering which Erin took as an exit ticket, "Yeah so thanks again for everything I'm just gonna split, sooo see ya." he showed himself out of the threshold of the battle.

* * *

Erin was now pulling the empty cart with one arm since it was light enough to be pulled with one while he used the other to hold the ice bag on his right cheek. This town had only two dust shops that were supplied by the mines further up in the mountains, though there was little in the shops because most of the dust that was mined went to the defence force and border patrol of the village. The sign read "**Dusty Old Shelf"**, a clever name Erin thought.

"_Anyone else? Or you wanna call it a day and just go home?" _Kore was quick to suggest.

"_Yes please."_

"Uhu."

"_That sounds like the smartest decision."_

"_Yeah pretty craaaazy day huh, heheh."_

Everyone said, agreeing on putting this day to rest.

However the day wasn't done with him yet.

*_**THUD***_

Erin heard and felt something moving in the back of his cart. The heat of annoyance he felt was immediately extinguished when he saw who had jumped into his cart. It was his three best friends that weren't his personalities. You had Yana who was the only girl of the group who Erin "didn't" have a crush on as he said, but his friends pretty much called bullshit every time he tried denying it, she had a pink and blue dyed ponytail that smelled like cotton candy, with turquoise eyes and pale white skin; she wore a pink tank top with a sports bra underneath and pale blue pants with a couple holes, she even had a couple of silver earrings.

Next was Yolo, the youngest of the group who was nine years old and loved his yo-yo, always pulling of the craziest tricks that caught the attention of the group, along with Feliz and Chestnut, he had blond hair that was combed over to the left and covered his eye, he wore a maroon T-shirt with a blue and white checkered overshirt, his brown pants were a bit big on him so he wore a black belt to keep them up.

Then last but not least was Axel who was the tallest in the group and was packing some pretty good muscle at the age of twelve, he wore only a buttoned up black sleeveless vest on his top that was a bit too small for him, but he just liked to show off was all including his legs that were exposed by shorts that barely covered his knees and black Atlas military boots, how he got his hands on those no one really knows; he had the darkest skin out of us, but his brown hair was darker and pushed back, exposing his forehead; Axel has Mutism which renders him the inability to speak, so he will either use sign language, write his words, or just make grunts and hums.

"Heya Erin hows it- *gasp*-Your face!" Yana panicked with wide saucer eyes, immediately jumping down and inspecting his face. Yana always felt the need to be concerned for her friends, like a mom babying her kid that fell off their bike. "You're gonna tell me who did this to you right..._**now**_." that last word seething with a little anger.

Erin nervously laughed, "Yana I'm fine I do- owww!" Erin yelped as Yana pulled his ear.

"_You fool! Just answer the question, you know she won't give up" _Hugo begged of Erin.

"_Yeah man she's CRAAAAZY! And I like that." _Chestnut said in a seductive tone.

"_Chestnut not right now dude really" _Kore objected.

"_I was just joking." _Chestnut laughed.

"Owowowow ok I'll talk I'll talk." Erin said finally getting out of Yana's iron ear pinch, "Awww damn Yana I thought you were trying to ease the pain not make it worse" he said in slight annoyance while rubbing his stinging ear lobe.

Yana realized her mistake cupping her mouth and widening her eyes again "*gasp* I'M SO SORRY!" she said in concerne, "Here let me make it better." she said taking a couple steps toward him, when she didn't stop getting closer he was about to ask what she was doing until his mind went blank from feeling her land a peck on his cheek where his bruise was.

"_OOOOHOOOO! Things are getting steamy, ALRIGHT ERIN! HAHAHHA!" _Chestnut cackled in pleasure of Erins embarrassment.

"_God make him stop." _Kore pleaded, getting annoyed.

"_Chestnut hush you fool." _trying to defuse the bickering but only to soon find himself bickering with Feliz because of the name calling.

"_You're gonna hurt someone's feelings one day by calling them that" _Feliz started bickering with Hugo.

Meanwhile Erin was stuck frozen from Yana's "treatment". Yana just giggled and rolled her eyes at the behavior of her friend.

"Man I've never seen him this bad before, I think you actually broke him Yana." Yolo said with a laugh.

Axel just snickered at Erin's state of shock while leaning on the cart with arms crossed.

Yana was now snapping her fingers in front of Erin's face "Hellooooo? Erin you in there?" Yana asked.

Yolo hopped out the cart, yo-yo in hand, "Stand back Yana, I think I know a way to save him.".

Yana stepped back to allow Yolo to work his magic.

Yolo began doing a vertical swinging motion and then… uppercut Erin with a yo-yo.

***SMACK***

"AAAAWWW come on man" Erin rubbed under his jaw, thankfully his aura took the minimum damage.

Yana rushed to Erins side "YOLO!" Yana shouted.

"What he has aura and it worked" Yolo said innocently.

"_Gggrrr, lets beat that little shit."_ Kore growled, "_He's only nine Kore."_ Hugo said not caring about Kore's anger.

Yana looked at Erin "Sooooo, now you gonna tell us who did this?" she asked.

"I just want you guys to know that yall suck at treating pain" Erin said, earning a hard look from Yana. He heard a slite "Ooooooo." from Yolo, but Axel pinched his arm making the young boy yelp in surprise. "I mean, uuuuugh-".

"_Tread lightly Erin." _Hugo warned.

"_Kiss her." _Chestnut whispered softly, getting shushed by the other three personalities.

Erin saw no other way to delay the inevitable "(sigh) Berit and his friends jumped me" he said simply.

"WHAT!" Yana and Yolo shouted getting up in Erin's face causing some of the walking pedestrians to look their way.

Axel now getting off the cart making a low angry growl as he clenched his fists at the mention of that name. Berits group messed with all of us including Axel, despite his size Axel was sensitive about his condition, and Berits group used that to their advantage.

"But it's fine, see." Erin said flaring his aura trying to quickly defuse the situation, "My aura is patching me up, by tomorrow I'll be good as new." Erin said, giving a half assed smile and thumbs up.

Axel punched his hand and cracked his knuckles "Hrrrrr" he hummed.

Yolo zipped his yo-yo back in his hand, "Yeah he still wants to hurt them." Yolo said looking at Axel a little scared.

"No one's gonna hurt Berit until I've gotten my turn, I'm gonna scratch my name on their faces when I get ahold of them" Yana growled, her voice struck with venom, and body seething in anger.

"_Awww they really care about us." _Feliz cooed happily.

"_I love this girl!"_ Chestnut came in out of the blue.

Erin turned around to hide a creeping blush that tinted his cheeks, "Shut up Chestnut!" Erin mumbled in embarrassment.

Yolo hit Erin's shoulder with his yo-yo that managed to make its way back to him from that distance, seriously the guy knew how to use a yo-yo, "Hey you good man" he asked.

Erin quickly whipped around "YES!" he said a bit too loudly, "I mean (clears throat) yes I'm fine." he mellow toned.

_"Real smooth dipshit." _Kore shot Erin down.

"So what were you guys originally doing." Erin asked, ignoring Kore.

"Well we were gonna do something with-" Yana started but stopped to hold her hand out to the side, as if on cue Axel pulled something from his pocket and flicked it, making a ***ding* **sound as it landed perfectly in Yanas hands "-THIS!" Yana shouted in excitement holding up a blue ice dust crystal that emitted blue rays from the sunlight.

Apon Erin seeing what it was, he pulled her wrist down covering the crystal, "What are you doing with that!" he whispered, looking to make sure no one was passing saw.

"Relax Erin I'll be careful with it." she said, trying to put it in her pocket, but dropped it.

***Dink* *Dink***

It made hitting the ground.

Yana staggered to pick it up; she stood up looking at Erin with a red face and wide eyes.

Erin gave this face that said "Really?".

_"Yeah I do that sometimes, at least when I get control of the body." _Feliz said.

_"Well at least we know there's another dumbass like you in the world" _Kore added in dryly.

Then Chestnut butted in with _"Oooooo burn, that was a burn, burn dude, burrrrrn." _he continued to say.

_**"SHUT UP CHESTNUT!"**_ Kore and Hugo shouted in unison.

_"It's ok Kore I know you love me."_ Feliz said happily.

Erin wanted to tell them all to shut up, but he was more focused on getting an explanation on why his friends have a dust crystal.

Yana tossed the crystal back to Axel who caught it and tucked it away.

"Just tell me what you guys are doing with that thing" he said, a little tired, this day was exhausting and he needed rest, he just hoped things would be a little easier for the rest of the day.

"I'll tell you on one condition" she said like a child while pointing her index finger in the air.

"Uuuggghhh" Erin facepalmed, "What?" he said, dragging his hand down his face.

She said nothing, but gave a wide toothy grin and turquoise eyes that beamed with excitement for her plan.

"_I'm not sure we made a wise choice." _Hugo stated in his head.

* * *

Erin seemed to notice something over the last eleven and a half years of his life. It's that when he hopes for something, it seems to never happen. Like right now when he hoped his day would get easier, it resulted in him now pulling his friends in his delivery cart.

"Faster! Faster! Giddy up!" the youngest of the group laughed.

Axel smiled at Yolos behavior while rubbing the nine year olds hair, messing up his golden locks.

"I'm not a damn horse and I'll go faster if I'm told what you guys plan to do with that dust crystal." Erin said, raising his voice from annoyance.

"Ok ok calm down" Yana said calmly.

Erin realized that his tone was a bit rough, "**(Sigh) **Look I'm sorry it's been a long day so far and I just don't want any more stress, but I'm guessing you guys are going to do that anyway.".

"Probably" Yolo said with no hesitation and a spin of his yo-yo.

"And that's what the crystal's for huh" Erin continued saying unenthusiastically.

"Yep!" Yana chirped, making Axel chuckle a mutley.

"Greeeeat" Erin said with no enthusiasm.

"_At least they were thinking about us." _Feliz said, trying to brighten up the situation.

"Now giddy up!" Yolo chanted.

Erin sighed, but complied now jogging with the cart in hand, this was going to be a good workout for him.

Only a few seconds in the jog and Erin was already sweating from the suns baking heat waves. The salt from his sweat stung his eyes, his breathing was getting heavier and his heart was pounding faster. As his friends bellowed in laughter and excitement, peoples attention were being drawn to them, especially when Yolo gave a-

"WOOOOOHOOOO!".

Erin honestly began to have a little fun if the small smile on his face was no indication. He began to taste salt as some of his sweet got in his mouth.

Yana leaned out the cart a bit to talk to Erin "So you having fuuuun Erin?" she said playfully mocking.

Erin wouldn't give in so easily, "*huff* UP! *huff* YOURS!" he said between breaths.

Yana laughed hard at that, some tears of joy spilled down her cheeks.

Erin shook his head smiling at his ability to make her laugh easy.

"_Why do we even put up with this?" _Kore asked annoyed.

"_Because we don't want to make her sad, Kore."_ Feliz said like it was obvious.

"_I have to agree with Feliz on this one, to upset Yana would be suicide, she...she can be as destructive as the Grimm if patronized." _Hugo said with a little fear in his voice.

"_But that's where I COME IN! I've calmed her down twice, so technically I saved the village, you know what that means?!..." _Feliz asked in glee.

Kore quickly replied with "_You're the town idiot?"_.

"_Wait, I thought I was the idiot."_ Chestnut seemed conflicted.

"_No, you're the moron that I use as my verbal punching bag when I'm pissed." _Kore said with a little happiness in his voice.

"_... IT MEANS I'M A HERO!" _Feliz exclaimed joyfully once Kore and Chestnut were done talking.

Erin's attention to the funny conversation his personalities were having was cut short as he felt a pair of hands going through his hair, already knowing who it was.

"Yana *huff* what are yo- hey stop that!" he he shook his head like it were covered in flies.

"Stop moving, I'm fixing it." she said struggling to get his hair to look decent, she licked her hand a couple times to keep a few strands down.

"Ok seriously *huff*, what's wrong with my hair!" Erin shouted with exhaustion.

"_It looks like shit!" _Kore and Chestnut shouted together.

"_Thank you Chestnut!" _Kore loudly thanked his moronic friend who he usually told to shut up.

"Well Feliz *huff* said it looked good, AAHH!" he groaned at the stinging pain of wiping sweat out of his burning eyes.

_"I just didn't want to be rude, sorry." _Feliz said apologetically.

_"Feliz it's best to make Erin look like less of a fool by telling him the truth about his looks." _Hugo said trying to not laugh at Erin's frustrated sigh.

Erin knew one place where he could relax in this town, he could always go there to grab a snack or even take a nap, and that's exactly where he was going.

"See even your little mind friends think your hair is bad." Yana said, making her point with a smile.

"You're slowing down." Yolo whined at the back of the cart.

Erin just groaned and picked up the pace a little bit which increased the burn in his legs, but simply pushed on. Erin liked giving his best effort when doing something, which is something his uncle admired highly of him. That's just how his uncle raised him though, and that determination would soon come in handy.

"Come on Erin you should hang with us today, we're gonna have fun." Yolo said, trying to convince his friend.

"Oh yeah *huff* I can only imagine *huff* the great things yall are gonna do *huff* with a dust crystal." he said sarcastically.

"Something CRAZY! Something we SHOULDN'T!" Yana proudly shouted.

"_ASK HER OUT ALREADY!" _Chestnut shouted.

"No Chestnut!" Erin half whispered and half breathed out from fatigue.

"_Chestnut, you're not good with girl advice… like at all… you suck." _Kore stated which made Feliz chuckle at the way he said it.

"_Was he ever?"_ Hugo asked, Kore thought for a couple seconds.

"_Good point."_ Kore said, making Feliz laugh harder.

Erin looked back to his friends but was looking specifically at Yana who was pretending to be an airplane. The angle of the sun made her hair glow vibrantly, but her smile seemed to shine brighter. She was beautiful, but Erin wasn't sure if telling her was a good idea or couldn't feel the burn of a blush on his face because of the sun but it was there, and the butterflies in his stomach flapped wildly. _"Eyes on the road Erin." _Hugo reminded him with an amused tone, "R-right!" Erin said snapping his head back forward, his blush getting redder.

_"She's pretty." _Feliz stated.

"Yes she is Feliz… yes she is." he mumbled with.

Axel grabbed Yolo's yo-yo while he was in the middle of a trick.

"Heeeey!" he whined, but Axel began making hand signs. "Ooooh, ok." Yolo, understanding what Axel was saying.

He watched closely till Axel was finished, "Got it… hey Erin!" Yolo shouted from the back of the cart.

Erin rolled his eyes, "*huff* YEAH! *huff*" Erin shouted back.

"Where are we going!?" Yolo asked.

"Oh don't worry *huff* were almost *huff* there! You should start realizing soon enough *huff*." Erins words were getting heavier, he just had to keep this up a little bit longer.

* * *

Finally it was over, Erins legs felt like jelly as they quivered before collapsing. Erin was now on all fours sucking in air rapidly, sweat dripped from his nose and chin and soaked his clothes, he felt like a wet rat.

"_Erin you need to stand up and put your hands behind your head to allow your lungs to take in more air." _Hugo stated.

Erin began nodding his head, "Yeah *huff* yeah ok *huff*." he said, slowly getting to his feet using the cart for support, he almost lost his balance trying to walk due to his legs being numb at the moment.

Yolo groaned upon seeing where they were, "Why are we here." he complained.

"Because *pant* this is the place I come to when I need to cool off.".

The library of Bergseite was home to Erin's favorite fantasies and legends he grew up with, stories of huntsman saving a village from hordes of Grimm with magic, legends of warriors who were feared by the Grimm just by the color of their eyes, and his favorite fantasy was about the four maidens who possessed magic abilities through a wizard of great power. This was the birthplace of his love and dream of being a huntsmen for the sake of his village. Growing up outside the kingdom Erin saw first hand the prime need of a huntsman. He got to see a few in action when they were here for missions because him and his friends would usually tail them which was dangerously stupid, yet so worth it.

But unfortunately that dream would never come true.

***BAM!***

The doors to the library burst open with an elderly woman with short grey wavy hair with glasses in a cayn button up shirt an azul skirt hanging below her knees being kept up by a large brown belt. "Erin!" she shouted with joy.

"_*gasp* Erin can I say hi pleasepleasepleasepleaseeeeee-" _Feliz pleaded desperately.

"_He's not gonna stop." _Kore faced the facts.,

Hugo sighed, "_Just give him control for the time being." _he said knowing there was no winning this fight.

"Ok Feliz you ca-" but before Erin could finish his sentence his eyes twitched rapidly before turning from brown to yellow, his aura glowed yellow for a brief second.

"MS. LEZIMOOOOOO!" Erin said in now a more happy childlike tone only now it was Feliz doing the talking. Feliz ran to her with open arms stopping just in front of her to delicately wrap his arms around her in a gentle warm hug. "Hi." He chirped.

"Oh Feliz, It's so good to see you aga- *gasp* sweetheart your face!" said with worry as she brought her wrinkled hands to his face examining the blotches of purple spots on his cheeks and eyes.

"_How's it feel being back_ _in the mind of your own body Erin_?_" _Chestnut asked.

_"Eh, it's_ _a strange_ _feeling, you know with seeing everything but not actually moving around is kinda trippy." _Erin answered.

_"Yeah well you get used to it." _Kore said with a hinting tone in his voice that they don't get time to have control of the body very often.

_"Hehe, right, remind me to give you guys more time to have control when we're out and about." _Erin said feeling kinda bad now.

"My goodness and your hair is a mess." started inspecting his hair, while back at the cart his friends were failing to suppress their laughter, even Axel let out a few chuckles.

"Yeah hehe, it could use some work." Feliz said scratching his head from embarrassment. In his head though Kore, Chestnut, and Hugo were laughing their asses off at another bad comment on his hair.

_"Man I really just want this day to end." _Erin said aggravated at the several bad hair comments today, and to his annoyance they continued to laugh.

"I'm fine though really, it doesn't even hurt." Feliz proceeded to touch the spots, which only stung a little, but gave a look that said she wasn't convinced.

"Who did this to you?" she asked in a gentle voice, "It was Berits group wasn't it." she said, her voice rising in anger.

"(sigh)... yes mam, it was." Feliz said knowing he couldn't lie to the sweet woman.

"Those dagum rotten kids are a bunch of no good… MEAT SACKS!" she yelled losing her temper, some of the people in the library looked to see what the commotion was.

"Look Ms. Lezimo I'm fine ok… I'm fine." he said putting his hand on her shoulder giving it a reassuring squeeze.

"(sigh) I'm not sure how you manage to stay so positive about these things Feliz." the old woman said with a frown.

"It's just part of my charm." he said back with an even bigger grin infecting Ms. Lezimo.

"_Cocky bastard." _Kore said.

"Hey, do you mind if we come in for refreshments!" Feliz said with hope in his voice and light in his bulging eyes.

"Oh of course I don't please come in come in, oh and would your friends like to come in?" she asked looking at the kids in the cart.

"**YEAAAAAAAAH!" **they screamed in glee pushing to get out of the cart and make their way inside.

The next few hours consisted of snacking and chatting. They started with small talk but soon it got to talking about their futures and dreams. Yana wanted to move to Mistral and start her own amusement park with some of the craziest, spine shivering, stomach turning rides in remnant by moving to Vale City and getting enough money and investors to start her off.

Yolo wanted to get into yo-yo competitions and eventually be good enough to qualify for the Remnant Yo-Yo Contest and start his own yo-yo company and teach yo-yo classes.

Axel wanted to form his own community fundraiser for people with mutism or other speaking conditions to help hospitals conduct research for more treatments and maybe even find cures for these disorders.

Erin wanted to become a huntsman; travel to every kingdom taking on missions of every difficulty in any village that was looking for a hero, because that's what he was going to be a hero, he just needed a way to get the money to leave this village and a way to get uncle Matt to agree with him, he just hoped the time would come eventually.

Time had seemed to fly by because it was now six thirty and his uncle is going to wonder where he's been all day. Erin and his friends said goodbye and Erin gave a long nice hug to .

"Thanks again for everything ." Erin said sweetly.

"Oh I always enjoy the company of you and your friends Erin, just tell your uncle you were helping me with some moving and cleaning, I don't want you getting in trouble now." she said.

"Yeah don't worry I've got it covered, bye now." Erin said, giving one final wave. He stopped in his tracks when he turned around to see all his friends gathered in the cart with big wide grins, ready for him to pull them again.

"Hey Chestnut, you wanna give this ride?" Erin asked.

"_Hell-"._

Erin's eyes began twitching.

"-Yeah." Chestnut said sternly, now taking control.

They did not scream in joy on this ride but in utter terror all the way back down to the residence village.

* * *

Once Chestnut got back to the house with a cart of terrified kids, Erin took back control and helped them each down.

"_That was exhilarating! Ha Ha!" _Chestnut chuckled.

"_Well they won't be sleeping tonight." _Hugo stated.

"_Maybe next time they won't be a pain in the ass." _Kore growled.

Axel was now carrying a sleepy Yolo, "Uuuggghhh, no more cookies." he groaned in Axels arms.

Axel quietly gestured down the row of homes beginning to settle for the night.

Erin nodded, "Alright buddy, you two be safe. Don't sign to strangers." he joked

Now it was Erin and Yana, Erin could feel the nerves begin to build up in his stomach.

"_Stay calm Erin and say something to keep us from going into an awkward silence, HURRY!"_ Hugo exclaimed.

"_Good luck Erin!" _Feliz said supportingly.

"_WOO HER!" _Chestnut cheered.

"_Don't listen to that idiot, just do your thing man." _Kore said surprisingly, sparking some confidence in Erin.

Erin cleared his throat, "Well, I ugh, I hope you had a good day, sorry you weren't able to use your crystal.", "Eh it's cool just means we'll have another day of fun ahead of us." she smiled digging around in her pockets, "Oh wait Axel has the crystal." she said as realization dawned on her.

They both shared a laugh at that, "Well I should get going, we spent a lot longer at the library than I thought." she said looking at the orange sky and pink cotton candy clouds.

"Sorry about that." Erin said apologetically.

"No no, it's fine, I had a good time" she reassured him.

"Hehe I guess that's all that matters then." Erin said looking into her turquoise irises.

Yana smiled and looked down at the rocky path "You're too sweet sometimes Erin." she said looking up at his brown hazel eyes.

Despite both being the same age at eleven, well almost twelve, Erin had three inches on Yana, but she made up that height difference real quick when she stood on her tippy toes and gave Erin a peck on the lips and dashed off down the cobble path into the village.

"BYE!" Yana yelled back to a stunned Erin.

Even the breeze in the air didn't move a hair on his head or the clothes on his body, Erin was a statue in front of his house at the moment.

"_OOOOOOOOOHHHHHHH!"_

"_OOOOOOOOOHHHHHHH!"_

"_OOOOOOOOOHHHHHHH!"_

"_OOOOOOOOOHHHHHHH!"_

His personalities screamed in triumph.

Yes, today was a good day.

* * *

Erin was now at the docks, there was one thing left on his agenda that he did every now and then. He stepped into one of the canoes carefully gaining his balance before taking a seat and undoing the rope from the docking bay and pushed off the edge giving the canoe some space from land. Erin grabbed the ore and began paddling to the far side of the lake.

"_Just you wait Erin, it starts off with kissing then y'all are making out and before you know it you guys are ba-". _

"_SHUT UP CHESTNUT GOD DAM!" _Kore interrupted Chestnut.

"_Whaaaat I'm trying to help him out with his first time." _Chestnut explained.

"_You're going to help him get his first slap in the face by a girl.". _

"_I'm sure she'd be crazy enough to be down… no pun intended." _Chestnut said, earning a groan from Kore.

"_You're a fool."_ Hugo simply said.

"_I don't get it, can you explain it for me Hugo?"_ Feliz said in confusion, clueless to the inappropriateness of Chestnut's personality.

"_You're both fools." _he said, not wanting to deal with the both of them.

"You're all fools." Erin interrupted, "Now shut up or change the subject." he said.

"_Ok then, why are we still doing this?" _Kore said changing the subject.

"It's just… like a tradition we do every now and then to just clear our minds from the stress we go through sometimes." Erin replied.

"_I do like star gazing." _Feliz added in.

"Yes and star gazing." Erin replied with a bit of strain, the paddling making his arms burn a bit now.

"_Okay but how does talking about your parents make you feel at ease?" _Kore questioned the logic.

_"Actually, when someone is troubled by pondering feelings it's stimulating to let your mind vent through calming activities." _Hugo stated confidentiality with his answer.

Kore, as usual, disagreed, _"That's not right. If you need to vent you punch a wall. Throw a scroll to the ground. Or my favorite, punch a Berite in the face!" _he seemed a bit too jittery about that last bit.

_"Now Kore, you can't just punch your feelings out of your mind." _Feliz said.

_"Why not?"_ Kore asked, unaware of the bad potential in his words.

Feliz thought for a second, _"uggggh… because it-"_.

_"Because it is not an ideal solution." _Hugo interrupted.

Erin sighed in frustration at the upwelling of an argument, "Look Uncle Matt just avoids the topic when I bring it up, so all I got really is you guys to lay everything out." he explained.

"_He means us!"_ Feliz shouted out.

Uncle Matt didn't bring up the topic of Erin's parents ever, maybe they did something bad to make Uncle Matt push them out of his life. Though there were a few ladder options that picked at Erin's mind, it was never easy growing up when your parents gave you to your Uncle before you could even register what an Uncle was. Things were far from good for a long while as Uncle Matt raised Erin, their relationship now was nowhere near as well bounded as it is now. And though their relationship has healed, there were still scars left over, fabricated in Erin's memory. Though it wasn't all bad…

It's how he met his personalities after all.

"_So we have to go to some tree away from the village to look up at the stars and do it?" _Kore complained. Kore never really received the big picture.

Chestnut had an alternative idea, "_Why not talk about our special goodbye with Yana mwa! Mwa! Mwaaaahahahaha!"_ he cackled wildly.

"_Hush you fool!"_ Hugo scolded.

Erin shook his head, "Because it's a nice place away from home that's reserved for me and my thoughts." Erin explained.

* * *

Five minutes of paddling later Erin arrived at the tall waterfall that blocked out the crickets and other noises of the night, a couple stars began piercing the sky. The east of the sky was a bit black and blue, while the west was a bright burning orange color that came from the soon setting sun. He docked the boat near a rock platform tyng it off as he usually did. He proceeded to follow the hike up to the waterfall, as he got closer to the falls the air seemed to become cooler and he could smell the mist of the water. Upon making it to the top of the waterfall, he looked back to see the village lanterns give it a beautiful shine that could be explained as looking at a city of gold.

"_It's pretty." _Feliz said soaking in the view.

"Indeed it is, this won't take long." Erin said now walking along the river, going deeper into the forest.

Grimm hadn't been a problem in this area, but he was still cautious and on guard for any potential threats.

He reached his favorite tree that was the tallest in the forest and had the best view of the landscape. He began climbing, his arms a bit weak from patling but he'd manage. After reaching the top he propped himself up on a thick branch and leaned back on the tree and hung his legs freely on each side of the branch. He looked over to the setting sun as it began its final countdown before descending behind the distant mountains, the orange fire sky began to slowly fade, allowing more stars to shoot their light through the night sky. It was so beautiful and peaceful, he wanted to bring Yana up here some day, it would make a great end to their first date, when he asked her out at least.

"You know I always thought that you needed parents to have a family…" Erin broke the silence.

Feliz followed up the question, "_But now?"_.

Erin reflected on his moments with his friends over the years, "... now… well I guess I've already had a family." he figured out.

"_So does this mean we can stop talking about the parents you don't have?" _Kore asked coldly.

"_Damn." _even Chestnut was a bit taken back.

"_Kore that was rude." _Feliz stated.

Erin scoffed, "Are you really that inconsiderate?".

"_I'm not inconsiderate I'm just considering you quit letting this get to your head. How exactly does depression help with overcoming?"_ Kore's question began to give base to an argument.

Hugo was quick to cut off any other voice of opposition, "_Enough! Understand that you both have valid points and let's just carry on with the night."_ his statement earned a few seconds of silence.

"_Party pooper." _Chestnut abruptly added.

Erin sighed, "What would I do without you guys?" he spoke softly with a smile.

It wasn't always sunshine and rainbows when conversing with his personalities, but they each held a special place in his heart. And for good reasons.

After conversing with his personalities for a bit, he propped his head up with his arm looking back up in time to see a shooting star.

"_*gasp* A SHOOTING STAR! MAKE A WISH MAKE A WISH!" _Feliz happily cheered.

"_MAKE IT YANA RELATED!" _Chestnut exclaimed.

Erin closed his eyes wishing he would unlock his semblance as a sign that he had what it takes to be a huntsmen.

* * *

It was late and Erin's eyes were getting heavy, so he slapped his face a couple times and began the climb back down. Air was now cold as he walked upon the river again as he could hear the falls getting louder as he got closer. Once he got to the falls he looked out at the village again, he stared in awe at the sight of the village as it glowed just as bright as before with a vibrant orange color. However, his face twisted into a look of horror, eyes snapping wide open, and the color in his face drained to a pale color because his village…

… was on fire.

* * *

**Disclaimer: I do not own RWBY, it is the property of Rooster Teeth made by Monty Oum.**


	2. Chapter 2

Personal Split

An RWBY fanfic story

By Donovan Ray Castillo

Chapter 2

* * *

**Again if any of you guys are still confused when Erins personalities are talking in his head the words will be in **_italics _**and they can be in control of the body from time to time, like the movie Split.**

* * *

**Narrators POV: **

Fire… the village… was on FIRE! Erin had no words and made no effort to move until Hugo said something, "_Erin move your ass!" _Hugo screamed snapping Erin out of his trance. "RIGHT!" Erin shouted making his way down the path, but he stopped just as he started the descent. His eyes twitched rapidly before turning green, and a large psychotic grin grew on his face. Erin was confused about what happened, then got angry when he realized what transpired, "_CHESTNUT WHAT ARE YOU DOING!" _Erin yelled, now in his own mind, "The canoe will take too long, I know a faster route!" Chestnut said with eager anticipation to initiate his plan. He stood on the edge of the falls looking down at the cloud of mist that arose from the gallons of water crashing down in the lake below, Kore shouted "_Your crazy!"_, Hugo thought the same thing, but it was a good idea "_But it'll get us there faster, can't believe I'm saying this but do your thing Chestnut." _he said supporting his idiotic friend. Chestnut took a few steps back to get a running start, "Here we GO!" Chestnut shouted now sprinting toward the cliff and accelerating. Chestnut pushed off the cliff as hard as he could now dolphin diving toward the water, "YAAAHOOO!" ***SPLASH!***.

Chestnut resubmerged for a gasp of air and started furiously paddling toward the docks back home. The water was freezing, but the cold was the least of their worries right now. "_You don't think we're under attack do you guys?"_ Feliz asked with worry, "_If we are then we need to get to the town wall." _Hugo suggested, "_No! We have to find Uncle Matt and the rest of our friends." _Erin protested, "_CHESTNUT GET A MOVE ON!" _Kore ordered, "I'm trying!" Chestnut said getting tired. The cold water felt pretty good on his working muscles. He could see the orange glow of the fire and the black smoke rose above the treeline.

Chestnut pulled himself up on the dock and curled himself up in a soaked shivering ball, "S-s-s-so, c-c-c-cold." he stuttered. Erin retook control, "W-w-we don't have t-t-t-time to lay down!" he said getting up, he could see his warm breath in the frigid air, but began sprinting toward the village. The sound of screaming and gunshots got louder, followed by monster like roars that echoed through the night sky. "Come on come on!" Erin said to himself, putting more energy into his legs.

* * *

**Earlier:**

Yana was lying in her bed staring out at the shattered moon that kept her room lit. She thought about what she had done today, the kiss she gave to Erin was something she hadn't expected herself doing, but it's like her body just moved on its own. She didn't regret doing it, she only regretted running away because that may have given Erin the wrong message. She really liked Erin, and she knew he felt the same, but they were just kids, she didn't know how love works. How would her parents feel if they found out about her liking a boy. She'd have to sleep on it and talk with Erin tomorrow, Erin always knew how to make her feel better, and who knows maybe they could make this work. Yana smiled as her eyelids grew heavy and her mind began to fall asleep, she couldn't wait for tomorrow

***BANG* *BANG***. The sound of gunshots caused her to sit up and look out the window once again, the tiredness in her eyes had vanished and was replaced by a look of fear. Screams of terror could be heard and silhouettes of people passed by her window. Footsteps were heard in the hallway getting closer to her room till the door burst open to reveal her scared father.***BANG *BANG* **the sounds of gunshots erupted. He rushed to her bedside and grabbed her hand "Yana we have to leave now." he said trying to be calm, "Dad, somethings going on outside." Yana said with worry, "I know but we'll be fine, come on we have to go now." he said scooping Yana up in his arms and taking her out to the hallway where her mother waited for them down stairs.

When they got down stairs, her mother was already in her fur jacket waiting at the front door. "Mom what's going on, why are people screaming!" Yana asked, tears threatened to spill from her eyes, her dad put her down to put his jacket on while her mom gave her a jacket to put on. ***BANG* *BANG*, **more gunshots went off. "Look at me..." her mom grabbed her face to look at her daughter in the eyes "... were gonna be fine ok, but we have to get to town, ok?". "Maria we have to go." her father said before his daughter could answer, Yanas mother Maria nodded to her husband, "I'll take her Garrett, you lead the way." Maria said.

Garrett (who was Yanas father) opened the door to people running to get to the towns wall, screaming in terror as they ran from the growing fires while more soldiers ran toward the gunshots. "**RRRAAAAAAAAWWWWW!"**, a powerful roar that thundered in the sky came from the direction everyone was running from. Garrett stepped outside to see where the source of the roar came from, and he really wished he hadn't. His green eyes turned to saucers and his jaw went slack at the sight, Maria gasped at the horrid sight, "Oh my god." the said under her breath.

An Ursa towered over the fleeing people and the soldiers that stopped in a line, they brought their guns up ready for the command to fire, "**FIRE!"** one of them yelled, ***BANG* BANG* *BANG* *BANG*. **A hailstorm of bullets went flying which caused the screaming to intensify. Garrett turned to Maria and Yana who was now crying while holding her mother's hand, "We need to leave, now! RUN!" he yelled urging his family to move in the other direction. Yana was now being pulled by her mother, but she looked back toward the fight with the Ursa.

The soldiers continued shooting at the advancing Ursa who had its arm up to shield its face as it inched closer to the soldiers. Every step seemed to shake the whole village as the cobblestone path cracked under the weight of the beast. Some bullets bounced off the bone plating while some struck its black furred body.

"**RRRRAAAAAWWWW!"** it bellowed in pain and anger. The Ursa took a large step forward and swiped its lage paw at the soldiers. "**AAAWWW!" **the soldiers screamed as the Ursas claw cut through their armor and bodies killing all but one. "Grrrrraa *huff* *huff* aaawww." he cried in pain as he clutched his chest, the warm feeling of blood gushed between his fingers, "Aaawww dammit!" he agonized. Suddenly the ground shook for a second, then again and again, he peered his head up to the nightmarish sight of the Ursas large form and glowing red eyes stomping towards him, the spikes on his back shook with each pounding step. The orange fire that burned the building and the plumes of black smoke in the background made the Ursa look only more terrifying.

He looked around him for a gun and to his luck he found one to his right, he reached out to it, but it just grazed his fingertips. He looked back at the Ursa that was nearly upon him, the blood of his friends dripped from its paw with every step, leaving bloody paw prints in its path. He used what little energy he had left to drag himself to the rifle and get his hand around the grip of the rifle, if only he had aura this would've been easier, he thought as he brought the barrel of the rifle to the Ursa. The Ursa was now towering over the bleeding soldier on its hind legs, "**RRRAAAWWW!" **it roared as it slammed its bloody paw on to the soldiers chest before he could pull the trigger. Bones in his ribcage snapped and his stern cracked from the enormous amount of weight, "AAAWWW!" he cried out in agonizing pain, it was like a building was on top of him.

The soldier began gasping for air, but got nothing, his arms pinned under the paw of the Ursa and his mouth pooling with blood. The Ursa leaned its head down to the soldiers face. He stared one last time directly into the red burning eyes of death, the Ursa shot a breath of warm air into his face before rearing its head back and letting out another resounding roar as every red part of its bony armor glowed brightly red with anger. The Ursa then brought down its gaping mouth and shut its jaws around the soldiers head killing him instantly as blood leaked from the Ursas teeth.

Yana shot her head back forward not wanting to see anymore and ran alongside her parents crying out loud now as her grip on her mother's hand tightened. She was scared for her life, she didn't want to die, especially not like that nor by any Grimm. The thought of that only made her cry more, tears now began flooding down her face and her sobbing increased.

The Ursa ripped the head from the corpse with a sickening sound of tearing flesh and disconnecting bones. Warm red blood spurted from the headless corpse, decorating the pavement. The Ursa looked up to the crowd of people running with blood dripping from its teeth and flesh hanging from its mouth, as it began stomping its way to them.

Two soldiers were moving people along as they witnessed what the Ursa had just done to their fellow companions. "GO GO GET MOVING!" the soldier on the right urged people to quickly move, waving his hand and pointing towards the direction to town. The other guard on the other side of him raised his rifle to Ursa, but too many people were in the way for a clear shot. He looked at his friend on the other side of the crowd of scared people, "WE NEED TO GET CLOSER I, I CAN't GET A CLEAR SHOT!" he shouted over the screams of people. Yana and her parents were about to pass the two guards that were trying to get the hordes of screaming people to move quickly. When a Beowulf leaped onto the back of right guard, its claws dug into his shoulder and it sank its teeth into his neck. "AAAAWWWW! *gargle* *gargle*." his screams turned into gargles as he choked on his blood and died. Yana and her parents along with the crowd who didn't get past the guards stopped and backed up as they looked at the dying soldier causing more screams to erupt from the crowd. The other guard drew his gun at the Beowulf that was chewing on his friend's corpse, "GET OFF HIM YOU PEICE OF SHIT!" he screamed. However before he could shoot another Beowulf grabbed him by the leg with its teeth and yanked him to the ground, causing the people in the crowd to back up further and scream louder. The soldier screamed and kicked at the Beowulf that was latched onto its leg, it growled and shook its head trying to tear the leg off. The other Beowulf looked up to see its fellow pack member struggling with its kill, so it ran over to assist by chomping down on the soldiers head causing his skull to crack.

"AAAAWWWW!" he screamed in pain as the Beowulfs proceeded to pull in opposite directions like a game of tug-a-war with their teeth, both roughly pulling at the screaming soldier. His screaming stopped with a loud ***CRACK*** of his snapping neck, soon the sound of flesh being ripped from the body was heard as the dead soldiers leg came off sending pools of blood flying into the crowd that covered people in red, including Yana. She let out an ear piercing scream along with many other screaming people who got covered in blood. The two Beowulfs looked up at the crowd of terrified people, more Beowulf's were on top of the roofs of the surrounding buildings and an angry stomping Ursa gave a low deep growl at the amount of negative energy it sensed in front of it. The people were trapped, everyone was freaking out, other parents began shielding their kids, some said their goodbyes to each other. Garret grabbed the rifle that landed next to him from the first fallen soldier, he suddenly got an idea for escape, "FOLLOW ME!" he screamed to his wife and daughter. They ran to the door of the closest house, Garret then proceeded to kick the door down, but ended up shooting the lock causing Yana to yelp in surprise.

One of the Beowulfs on the roof gave a long loud howl which must have been a signal because every Beowulf leaped into the crowd to begin their feast. Garrett quickly closed the door before the carnage could begin. Yana closed her eyes and covered her ears trying to block out the sounds of screams and growls from outside and started sobbing loudly. Maria crouched down and comforted her daughter while trying not to cry herself. Garret slung the rifle over his shoulder and made his way to the couch in what seemed to be in the living room, "Maria help with this, we need to barricade the door." he said, Maria nodded and grabbed the other side of the couch. Suddenly a hand slammed against the window causing Maria and Yana to scream in surprise while Garret aimed the gun at the window. A Beowulf pounced on whoever's hand it was because there was a scream as the hand left the window, leaving a bloody handprint. The scream stopped when blood sprayed onto the window with the hand print. Garret looked to Maria, "Hurry!" he exclaimed the two parents now positioning the couch in front of the door.

Yana buried her face into her knees crying, she was scarred more than ever now. She was scarred for Yolo, Axel, and Erin; wondering if she could continue living in this village if she survived and they didn't. This day was going so well, how could things take such a turn of events from being the best night to the most terrifying.

Her thoughts were cut short when a Beowulf burst through the window, taking some of the wall with it due to its size. Shards of glass and stone went flying across the room, making Yana scream and cover her face. The Beowulf separated the parents from their daughter. Maria tried to get to her daughter but Garrett held her back with his arm while the other pointed the rifle at the snarling Grimm, "YANA!" Maria screamed. "MOM, DAD!" Yana screamed back, she fell back when the Beowulf barged in, but was now standing, scared for her parents life she wanted to help, but didn't know what to do. The Beowulf looked at the parents who were backed up against the corner of the room as it baring its teeth and growled at them, some blood leaked from its teeth. The Beowulf snapped at them causing Maria to yelp a little, Garrett looked at his daughter, "YANA RUN, NOW!" he yelled. Yana had tears in her eyes, she didn't want to leave her parents, "But…" she started, "NO! WE'LL FIND YOU, JUST RUN!" he shouted, interrupting her.

Yana gave her parents one last look before turning the other direction and running through the house until the found the back door to the backyard. Once she was outside, gun shots from inside the house lit up the building for a second for every shot followed by a scream. This only made her cry harder as she lept over the picket fence and ran to the middle of the stone path. The area was just like before, houses on each side of the path parallel to each other, but it was the houses backyards and a couple of shops. Some of the buildings were on fire causing clouds of smoke to rain down ash on the village. The area was empty of people and Grimm, but the echoes of gunshots and screams filled the silence, fires made snapping and popping noises. The support for one of the buildings down the walkway gave out and the building collapsed on itself making Yana scream at the cloud of smoke and ash that arose from it.

She held her head and her breathing increased heavily. Her heart was pounding so hard it could burst from her chest, adrenaline making her shake. Clothes tattered, and her face covered in soot and blood; her mind was dizzy and working harder than ever. The whole world seemed to spin around her and she felt like passing out until…"YANA!". Her heart skipped a beat... that voice… she knew that voice. She looked behind her to see Erin standing down the path a few yards away from her. Her mind was pulled from its panicked state and back into focus, her frown suddenly turned into a smile, her tears of sadness turned into tears of joy at the sight of her friend being alive and well. While her mind was still in a state of shock, her legs seemed to move on their own as both of the young teens broke into a full on sprint directly towards each other, "ERIN!" she screamed smiling. Erin held his arms out to her, anticipating to hold her.

If only they knew what would happen next.

* * *

**Earlier again:**

Erin had several voices in his head at once, but he only understood his own thoughts at the moment "_Gotta find Uncle Matt, gotta find Yana, gotta find Yolo, gotta find Axel!" _he kept saying to himself. Erin was currently making his way to his house in case Uncle Matt was still there waiting for him. The fire was spreading from building to building and the sky was a storm of smoke. The white light of the shattered moon was completely blocked out by smoke and replaced by the hot burning light of fire. Orange glowing ash substituted the white stars in the sky of black cloud. This once clean, tidy village was now decorated with blood and littered with corpses and rubble of buildings. The sounds of gunshots and screaming seemed to be everywhere in every direction. Hugo couldn't believe this, "_This is madness! How could this be happening now!" _he said. "Doesn't matter how right now, we gotta find Uncle Matt and the others!" Erin said back in frustration.

He heard numerous gunshots close by but continued on the path he was following; the shots got louder as he got closer to a fight up ahead. He cut a corner so fast he slipped on gravel and cursed as he picked himself up. He stopped just in time to miss a bullet that whizzed past his face and caused him to fall back on his rear, "SHIT!" he screamed. Suddenly the air in front of him was full of bullets ***WIZZ* *ZOOM* *ZIP*** they flew past him towards an oncoming hoard of Beowulfs to his right. Soldiers to his left advanced forward not letting up on the fire, the five in front took a knee, while the six in the back took their position standing behind them. They held their fire to reload their guns, then when the officer of the group gave the command to shoot, all hell broke loose as fire, ice, and lighting enhanced dust bullets went flying towards the Grimm killing several of them. Chestnut liked the show, "_Hell yeah, kick their ASSES!" _he cheered, Feliz joined the cheering, "_YEAH! You got this soldier dudes!"_, but Kore stopped their cheering, "_Not the time guys!" _he said sternly, Hugo had a plan, "_Erin if we can get to the roof of the building to our left you could building hop to that patio on the other side of the fight." _he explained. Erin saw what he was talking about and pondered for a bit on the idea, "I-I don't know if I can make that jump though." he said a bit nervously.

One of the soldiers saw Erin on the sidelines of the fight and waved for him to get back. Erin stood up and backed up from the fight, "Damit is that really the only way?" Erin asked. Chestnut spoke up, "_Oh I have an idea!" _he said with excitement. "Should I even bother?" Erin asked, "_I'm actually curious."_ Kore said. Suddenly Erin's eyes twitched rapidly changing to green, Chestnut now in control, "Don't ask just DO!" he said running toward the fight laughing psychotically. Hugo tried to protest, "_Chestnut wait!" _he said, but there was no stopping Chestnut as he forward rolled into the ongoing fight, now military crawling under the bullets that zipped past his head.

"WATCH YOUR FIRE! WATCH YOUR FIRE! WE GOT A CIVILIAN OUT THEIR!" the officer ordered. "What the hell is that kid doing?!" one of the soldiers asked, "HE's gonna get killed!" another said. "JUST KEEP THOSE GRIMM OFF HIM AND ADVANCE FORWARD!". The small platoon began moving forward while continuing the rain of bullets, not letting the Grimm gain an inch of territory on them.

Chestnut picked up the pace when the bullets were being shot higher up and not skimming his hair. While he was crawling Erin, Hugo, and Kore were yelling at him, calling him a crazy idiot, and cursed him out a few times to, while Feliz simply cheered him on. Adrenaline was pumping through his veins as his heart rate got faster. Sweat began to bead up on his forehead and drip down his face the heat from the surrounding fire was only making him sweat more.

Once he made it to the other side Chestnut stood up and took a couple deep breaths as he gave a thumbs up to the advancing troops who gave no response to him. Their house was now just a couple houses down, Erin retook control and continued sprinting, "I'm not even gonna waste time talking about how stupid that was." Erin said, "_Your welcome!" _Chestnut replied, which only made Erin shake his head. Kore decided to get a few words in though, "_You're a goddamn idiot dude… but good job, I guess." _Feliz lit up at this, "_See, I told you guys he cares!"_. While they continued their rambling Erin was now coming up on his house.

Erin might as well have just kicked the door down with how much force he put in opening it. "Uncle Matt! UNCLE MATT!" he continued looking for his Uncle as he ran around the house, leaving no room unchecked both up and down stairs, but no one was in the house but him. "Dammit! Maybe he's out their looking for me, we should look at the market, or the bait shop." Erin started rambling on where to look next. However Feliz spoke up, "_But what about Yana, Yolo, and Axel; we gotta find them!"_ he said in concern for their well being, Hugo was the next to talk, "_We should check Yana's house first, it's the closest." _he stated, "_We can search for Uncle Matt along the way, ok?"_ Hugo added. "Ok, ok yeah, lets go!" Erin said now sprinting out of his house and to Yanas.

Erin turned a sharp corner slipping again, "DAMMIT! Are you kidding me!" he said picking himself up and continuing down the path to see people running and screaming down the path that leads to town. He ran down to see what they were running from, getting pushed a couple times while trying to get a clear view around all the people running. When he managed to get a view, a shot of fear went through his body sending chills through his spine at the sight of dead soldiers, about a dozen Beowulfs on the roofs, and the nightmarish sight of the bloodied Ursa that slowly made its way to the trapped people. A certain set of blue and pink colored hair caught his eyes, without thinking he began pushing his way through the running crowd until everyone had ran past him. Hugo spoke up "_Erin do you not see what is ahead of us!" _he tried talking sense into his friend, "I do and I don't care!" he yelled, but stopped when one of the Beowulfs gave a loud howl, he saw Yana and her parents break into the house to his right. He started running right hopefully to meet them in the houses backyard, but stopped when he saw that a burning building had collapsed and had landed to where it completely blocked his path, "This is such bullshit!" he exclaimed.

He tried to get close to the rubble of the burning building, but backed up and covered his face from the heat of the fire. "Dammit! Any other ideas? And be serious about it." Erin said sternly. As usual, Hugo was already working on one, "_The building to our right is still intact and not yet on fire, if you climb it we can see about hopefully get past the rubble." _he said. Erin looked back at the sound of screaming and growling to see Beowulfs tearing people apart sending blood and limbs flying. Feliz whimpered in fear at the site. "_Yikes."_ Kore and Chestnut said in union, and Chestnut with his terrible timing, "_Jinx." _he said much to everyone's annoyance. "Shut up." Erin said highly disapproving at Chestnuts timing, he began climbing the window panes of the two storied building. Once he got to the flat roof of the building he ran over to the side where the collapsed building would have been standing and looked down to see only fire, but support beams that ran horizontally remained standing from where the building tore off, it was a straight path to the other building, only problem is that it was over fire. "Here goes nothing." Erin said taking the first step. Hugo got nervous "_Oh god please be careful."_ he said.

Erin didn't respond, he was too focused on the task at hand, he looked up at the end point then back down at his feet, he was about a quarter through but the distance seemed a mile long. He gritted his teeth at the heat; sweat ran down his face and neck, some dripped off his hair and fell into the burning pool of fire below him. Half way through one of the beams snapped causing the others to wobble a bit. Erin crouched to regain his balance as he shut his eyes tightly fearing the worst, but it never came because out of sheer luck the other three held strong for now. Kore couldn't handle it anymore "_YOU MIGHT WANT TO PICK UP THE PACE!" _he yelled. Erin did just that, trying to close the distance quickly, but another beam snapped and the rest of the structure began to fall from weakness. Erins adrenalin spiked as he made a leap of faith to close the distance, it seemed like he was off, but as luck would have it his fingertips caught the edge of the other building. Erin pulled himself up and sprawled out flat on his back now looking at the black sky, "OOOHHH...MYYY...GOOOOOD!" he yelled; he got up and looked back to where he was and the fiery lake below that was almost his fate. "_Thaaaat was close."_ Feliz said, "Yes…*huff*... yes it was." Erin replied, "Now let's get going." he said now climbing down the building. He continued his path and made another sharp turn that he didn't slip on, which Chestnut congratulated him on, again horrible timing.

Erin had never felt more relief in his life. There she was, safe and alive. "YANA!" he yelled; their eyes locked on each other, both were grateful to see the other. He was covered in sweat and dirt, and she was covered in blood and soot, but appearances didn't matter right now, only seeing each other. They both ran to each other with adrenaline pumped legs, both crying from joy. But in that one second, all the joy vanished when the wall of the building Yana was running past collapsed on top of her, her scream of surprise and terror was short lived as she was now buried under rock and building. His heart seemed to stop because all the color in his face disappeared, his body suddenly went cold, and his brain seemed to have shutdown leaving Erin unmoving and just staring at what he just witnessed with wide horrified eyes. He wanted to scream, he wanted to run to her and save her, he wanted to be in her place instead. His personalities didn't say a word, as they were just as shocked, and just as traumatized.

Something seemed to move in the dust cloud that formed from the falling wall. A red glow emitted from the dust as a large bulky figure crept its way into the light from the burning buildings. The large bloody Ursa stomped over the rubble that trapped Yana underneath and out in the middle of the walkway. Its burning red eyes stared at Erin with rage, its red marks on its boney armor seemed to glow even brighter, "**RRRRAAAAAWWWWW!" **it roared in anger. The Ursa begin charging at Erin, and all he did was stand their, none of his personalities attempted to take control.

"ERIN!" he heard someone call his name, he made no effort to see who it was, but it sounded familiar. "ERIN YOU NEED TO MOVE!" the voice was now closer and was recognized to be Uncle Matts. "*GASP* UNCLE MATT!" he yelled snapping out of his trance to look over and see his Uncle running straight at him. "ERIN MOVE!" he yelled desperately. "*GASP*" Erin gasped at the Ursa charging right at him, he was about to sprint to the right but suddenly got a major headache, "AAAAAWWWW!" Erin screamed holding his head and covering his ringing ears, it was like his mind was being torn into pieces and it hurt like hell. Blood began to leak from his nose as the ringing in his ears increased. "**AAAAWWWWW!" **he screamed even louder as his brown aura flared brighter than it ever had. The Ursa was closing the distance fast and was nearly upon him until… "NO!" Uncle Matt shouted as he shouldered Erin hard causing him to skid a couple yards, while Uncle Matt took the full force of the Ursas blow that sent him smashing through the wall of the building behind him.

Erin was on the ground nearly unconscious, the ringing in his ear began to go away, but now his vision was now hazy and stary. He could hear voices around him who he thought were his personalities, but then he saw figures of people in front of him and knew they were the ones talking, he couldn't make them out accept the colors of red and green hair in his face. The one with red hair started to shake him by the shoulders, but Erin only managed to give a groan as a response. The figures began talking to each other again, and the next thing he knew he was being dragged by the arms. The smell of smoke filled his nose and felt the heat of flames which reminded him where he was, he looked up to see what they were running from, he squinted his eyes as his vision began putting everything back together. The sight of an Ursa charging towards them really got Erin out of his trance, "OH SHIT!" he yelled as he began to run on his own side by side with four other people that had different colored hair and they were wearing his clothes. Blood flew from the Ursas mouth as it gave a monstrous roar to to its running prey.

"WHAT ARE WE GONNA DO!" the guy with yellow hair yelled. Erin almost choked when he heard that voice, it sounded just like Feliz, but that was impossible. The guy in purple was the next to speak, "GET TO THE MARKET!" he shouted back with an accent. That accent sounded just like… no… it couldn't possibly be Hugo, could it? They all made a sharp turn around the corner without any of them slipping, accept for the Ursa who tripped on its own feet, making the ground shake from its great fall, but it roared in anger as it stood back up to continue its stampede towards the multi colored group.

The market was a large circular area of hand made tents and stands that people would use to sell their product, but now a part of it was burning and only getting worse. The flames were like hands grabbing at whatever it could burn to spread its reach of destruction, sending ash and smoke in the air. Now the group was running through the market and quickly took cover behind one of the wooden stands with the Ursa now sniffing the air for a scent while knocking over stalls and tents, searching for them.

The guy with red hair also had red tiger ears and a red tail, he peered to the side of their cover to see the Ursa searching stalls and tents, but was slowly getting closer to them. He looked back at the group "OK *huff* were in the clear for now, but that Ursas gonna find us if we don't come up with a plan." he said. The guy in purple held up some rope "Luckily I have one, if we can-" but Erin cut him off, "Woah woah woah wait, who even are you guys, and why do you sound so familiar." he said looking at each of them. "You know who we are Erin." the guy in purple said, then the guy in green got in Erin's face, "Yeah it's crazy right, were actually people now!" he half way shouted getting shushed by everyone but Erin.

The voices, the color of each of them, Erin begin to connect the dots, and it all made sense, well not really, but now he knew. "How is this possible, y-you guys actually have your own bodies!" Erin said. Hugo had a theory "Erin... this could be your semblance." he said, that made Erin's eyes go wide and his jaw went slack, "My… semblance?" he asked with surprise. Hugo nodded and continued explaining "I can't understand it much myself, although I think your aura somehow separated our aura from your mind or body I don't know, but it must have put a massive amount of strain on your brain because your nose is bleeding." he explained. Erin touched his upper lip to see blood on his fingers, "M-my aura is gone, and my head hurts." Erin said holding his head. Feliz looked over their cover to see the Ursa smash another stall, "Uugghh guys the Ursa is getting closer, and he looks mad…". "**RRRRAAAAWWWW!" **the Ursa gave a booming roar as it flipped over another stall. "... really mad." Feliz finished. Hugo needed to explain his plan, "Ok I got a plan, Erin you see that blacksmith shop over there?" he pointed at the two storied building at the end of the market, Erin nodded in response. Hugo continued "Ok good, now everyone listen up." Hugo then went on to explain his plan.

The Ursa roared in anger at another empty stall, but it continued smashing everything in his path until it found its prey. It licked the blood from its paw and teeth, savoring the flavor which only made him more desperate to find its victims and begin feasting. "HEY ASSHOLE!" the Ursas ears perked up at the new sound, its head whipped towards the source to see Erin waving his arms, "COME ON, I KNOW A PLACE WHERE YOU CAN GET A BITE TO EAT!" Erin yelled. The Ursa roared at his taunting and started stampeding straight at him. Erin began running in the opposite direction towards the blacksmith shop, he ran past the slumped rope on the ground and now it was time for phase two as he quickly stepped inside and closed the door of the building.

Hugo and Kore were hiding behind a stall while Chestnut and Feliz did the same across the narrow dirt path that separated them, each side had an end of the rope to pull on. It was up to Kore to give the signal when the Ursa was in range. "HEY ASSHOLE!" they heard Erin yell. Kore looked to Feliz and Chestnut "You guys ready" he asked, Feliz smiled and gave him a thumbs up while Chestnut gave a sinister smile, "Hehehe this is gonna be fun." he said. Erin ran past them just as planned, they could feel the ground shake and hear the sound of smashing wood as the Ursa was charging after their friend. "NOW!" Kore yelled, and both sides pulled as hard as they could bringing the rope straight up, the Ursa didn't have time to react. Instead it tripped and fell to the ground dragging Kore, Hugo, Chestnut, and Feliz with it due to its size. "**RRRRAAAAWWWW!"** the Ursa roared in anger, its eyes and marks were glowing with rage. Kore helped Hugo up while Feliz and Chestnut got to their feet, the Ursa gave a deep gurgly growl as it looked at the four of them. Feliz backed up a bit "I don't like this plan." he said, Hugo looked at them all "It's facing the wrong way! Try to get the head close to the patio of the building!" he yelled to them all. The Ursa now stood on its hind legs "**RRRRAAAAWWWW!" **it bellowed as it readies itself for a fight. The group of four were well beyond not prepared for a battle like this, but they took a stand nonetheless ready to get this beast in position for Erins part of the plan. "Alright then…" Kore paused for a second to crack his knuckles "... let's do this.".

Once Erin was inside the shop he looked around. The room was dimly lit by a couple of lanterns and the fires outside shined its light through the window. He was in the forge where the fireplace was; the anvil had some tools on it, and the walls were decorated with swords, axes and "Hammers!" Erin popped up at the sight of hammers. Just as planned he looked for the best hammer he could find, and only one stood out from the others. He took a second to admire the large heavy looking hammer that hung on the wall. The head was built in a rectangular shape and the faces on the sides were a bit bigger than the base of the hammer, small spikes protruding from the square shaped faces of the hammer making it look vicious. It looked like a giant meat pounder, but much deadlier and made probably for more than just pounding meat. Erin grasped the leather grip around the metal shaft of the hammer and lifted it off the wall with much of his strength, only to fall back ***THUD*** hammer made landing next to him on the carpet. "**RRRAAAWWW!"** the Ursa roared from outside. "Ah dammit!" he cursed as he got up grabbing the shaft of the hammer again, Erin took a deep breath and let it out "*exhale* Come on man you got this.", with all his strength he lifted the hammer with his legs and heaved it onto his shoulder making him wheeze a bit. "Oh god that's heavy." he said with a red face, he made his way to the stairs and looked up to the top of them "Ok, here we go." he said taking the first step.

The Ursa slammed its paw in between the group causing dust to rise in the air, Kore and Hugo dodged to the left while Chestnut and Feliz dodged to the left now being seperated by the Grimm. The Ursa looked to Kore and Hugo, ready to attack until a rock hit the back of its head. The Ursa snarled as it whipped its head around to see Feliz holding rocks and Chestnut gathering the rope in his hands. Hugo looked at Feliz "Feliz! LEAD IT TO THE PATIO!" Hugo shouted pointing to the blacksmiths patio. "OK!" Feliz shouted back "I DON'T LIKE THIS!" he added. Feliz continued throwing rocks at the pissed of Grimm and began leading it to the patio. Hugo looked at Kore, "We need to pin it there until Erin is ready, can you do that?" Hugo asked. Kore looked around and picked up a long metal pole that he drove into the ground and sent an aura enhanced kick to the side of it, ***SNAP***, Kore now held the pole with a sharp point, "I got you covered." he said with his tiger ears pointing up.

Feliz got the Ursa in position near the patio, but he was out of rocks and out of ideas. The Ursa growled in anger as it inched closer to him, it brought its right paw up ready to strike. "Uugghh, guys what do I do now?" Feliz asked, he brought his arms up ready to take the force of this strike. "Feliz move!" Kore shouted as he jumped in the air and drove the sharp metal pole through the Ursas left paw and into the ground, allowing Feliz to escape. "**RRRAAAWWW!" **the Ursa roared in pain as it tried to pull its paw free, but it only made the pain worse. Hugo pulled Kore back just in time to avoid the snapping canines of the Ursas bite, both landing backwards into the dirt.

Chestnut began to use the spikes on the Ursa to climb its back, up to its head. The Ursa began violently shake trying to get him off, but Chestnut just used the spike to keep him on. Hugo looked to Feliz and Kore, "Use anything you can throw to get his attention!" they both nodded and got to work. Chestnut was holding on for dear life right now, "THIS… IS… AWESOME!" he screamed between shakes of the Ursa. The Ursa only stopped when a piece of wood hit the side of its head, getting its attention, then the same thing happened to the other side of his head, and again and again and again. "**RRRRRAAAAAWWWWW!"** the whole village must have shook from that thunderous cannon sounding roar. Chestnut used this time of distraction to throw the rope in front of the Ursas face and pull back in time to where the rope was now in between his upper and lower jaw like a bridle. The rope pulled on the Ursas head causing it to look up to see a person standing on the railing of the patio with a large hammer.

Erin kicked the door to the patio open as he dragged the hammer outside, making scratch marks on the wood patio. Erin looked over the edge of the railing to see his friends fighting the pinned Ursa as it gave one of the most loudest roars so far tonight. "OK, it's now or never." he said grabbing one of the chairs and placing it next to the railing. Once again he heaved the mighty hammer over his shoulder and stepped up onto the chair and put a foot on the railing to keep his balance. He looked down to see Chestnut using rope to force the Ursa to look up at him. Chestnut was having fun as usual, "YAAAHOOO!" he howled in joy, but the Ursa chomped down on the rope causing it to snap and Chestnut to fall back "AH SHIT!" he yelled in surprise as he landed hard on the ground with an "Oof!", Feliz ran to him and dragged him away from the Ursa.

The Ursa kept its death stare on Erin who shot daggers back at the monster. The heat from the tension seemed to make the fires around them grow higher in the sky and burn louder as if it were an audience cheering for the fight. Hot glowing ash rained down from the storm clouds of smoke above that gave an eerie orange glow to their battle.

Erin thought back to the wall falling on Yana and his Uncle pushing him out of the way of the huge claw. Then he looked down at the monster who caused all of it, he used that built up anger and his adrenaline induced arms to lift the hammer over his head ready to give the final blow. "**RRRAAAWWW!"** the Ursa gave a deep throated roar towards Erin. "NOW ERIN!" Kore shouted. "YAAAAAAGGGHHH!" Erin screamed back as he pushed off the railing and brought the hammer down on the Ursas gaping mouth.

***CRUCH!*. **Pieces of bone went flying from the Ursas head that was now buried under the dirt. Erin had a little amount of aura that protected his knees from that fall, "*huff* *huff* Thats *huff* thats pay back *huff* **bitch**." he said that last word full of venom, as sweat dripped from his face. The flames in the background seemed to die down a little now that the fight was over, the Ursas body began to disintegrate, *****_**SSSSSSSSSSSSS***_, black smoke left its body and floated into the air until it was fully gone. Erin looked around to find out he was by himself.

"_WE DID IT!" _Feliz shouted with excitement, only he was back in Erins head. Erin was now confused, "Feliz, what happened, how are you in my head again?!" he asked, but was interrupted when he heard a growl behind him. Erin turned to see a Beowulf making its way towards him before leaping into the air with its claws drawn and teeth ready to bite. Erin fell back and brought his arms up "SON OF A BI-". ***BANG* *BANG***. Two gunshots came from behind him. ***Thud***. The Beowulf landed in front of him, dead and dissolving to ash. ***SSSSSSSSS***.

Erin turned his head back to see a group of soldiers, one which was holding a gun with a steaming barrel. That soldier took his helmet off to reveal "CHAD!" Erin shot up from the ground and hugged him with a bit of force. "Woah there woah there Erin, you ok man?" he asked patting the boys back. "I'm fine but my Uncle needs help, NOW!" he raised his voice with worry. "You two…" Chad pointed at two soldiers in red and yellow, "... get to work on these fire." Chad ordered, "YES SIR!" they shouted before taking their weird guns and shooting a spray of ice dust at the fire, putting it out for good.

Chad kneeled in front of Erin his pink eyes looking into Erin's brown. "Erin, I need you to calm down and take me to your Uncle, ok?" Chad asked calmly. Erin's response was running in the direction he knew his Uncle was hurt at. Chad tried to reach for Erin but missed "No, ERIN! Dammit!" he cursed, he looked at two soldiers in red and white armor both with red crosses on their helmets. "You two on me, LETS GO!" he ordered as he began chasing Erin with the two medics in toe.

_"Why are we running from Chad?" _Feliz asked. "Were not running from him, were leading him." Erin replied.

* * *

In the distance outside the market area near one of the buildings was a person stood draped in a cloak holding a long staff with a large sickle blade on top. The figure pulled down their hood to reveal a woman with very dark brown skin, golden piercings on her ears as well as one on her lip, orange eyes, and long black braids that reached down her back. Three of those hundreds braids being blue, pink, and green. "Imposible." she whispered from the scene she had just witnessed. She had only heard of people with that kind of semblance, but never before would she think to witness someone with it first hand. People with that kind of semblance were said to be extinct, just as rare as the silver eyed warriors. This kid probably had no idea what kind of power he possessed, and the danger he could be in if word got out about him.

She heard a growl behind her from a Beowulf as it jumped after her, but she swung her sickle staff upward and through the Beowulf's lower jaw and out through the top of its head. The monster went limp and disintegrated. She folded her weapon and latched it to her side. She put the hood back over her head and vanished into the shadows.

* * *

Erin came to a halt as he was now at the wall with a hole made by his Uncle flying through it. He hopped through the hole quickly to see a hand sticking out from the rubble. "*gasp* UNCLE MATT!" he shouted, kneeling down to grab his Uncle's hand. It felt cold and limp, which didn't make him feel better. "No! No! NO!" he shouted throwing rocks off the pile of rubble to get his Uncle free. A light shined through the hole in the wall and into his face that made him squint and cover his eyes, "He's in here sir!" the medic shouted. Not a second later Chad came through the hole to see Erin near a pile of rubble and a hand sticking out from under said rubble, ""Oh my god." he whispered to himself. Chad pointed to one of the medics "I want you to bring our fire team down here to clear these fires and get the rest of our platoon to search these buildings for people.". "YES SIR!" the medic shouted and began running back to the market area. Chad turned to the other medic "You, help me with this, quickly!" he ordered. "Erin go outside for right now, ok?" Chad said, Erin nodded and stepped over the rubble and through the hole in the wall while trying to hold back tears.

Chad and the medic heaved almost all the rocks off in just a few seconds of starting, and Uncle Matt's body was revealed to be covered in dust and his forehead, face, and mouth leaked blood. Chad looked at the medic, "Lets get him outside." he said grabbing his legs. When they laid him on the ground Erin inspected all the damage on his body, his uncles left forearm was broken due to its unusual shape, blood coated his greyish black hair, his face was covered in cuts and bruises, a large gash ran across his right eye, and some blood dribbled from his mouth. Erin gagged a little at the sight, but managed to keep it down. He brought his hands up to rest behind his head as he slowed his breathing

The medic kneeled down next to his uncle and checked his pulse, he took off his pack and pulled out a BVM and began doing CPR. Chad ran his hand through his messed up white mohawk out of stress. The medic would use the BVM, do chest compressions and repeat.

The medic tried again.

And again.

And again.

Chad eventually took the medics place and tried himself. "Come on Matthew you got a kid that needs you!" he yelled giving chest compressions.

Nothing.

More troops and the fire team arrived and began doing their jobs. Fire team extinguished the flames and some troops barged into houses looking for people.

Erins hands fell to his sides and the damn holding back the tears broke. He didn't need to be told, he knew he was dead when he first felt his cold limp hand, he just didn't want to believe it. His aching head seemed to cancel out every other surrounding noise as his focus was dead set on the face of his Uncles Matts now dead form.

"I'm sorry." he whispered to himself.

His body seemed to jolt back into reality when he suddenly remembered "YANA!" he yelled as he shot down the walkway towards where Yana was buried at, but there were a lot of soldiers escorting injured people in the street. He ran past them trying to get a clear view of where Yana should be at.

His legs slowed to a halt as his heart seemed to stop and his blood chilled. Erin's eyes widened even more than before. He didn't make a sound and neither did his personalities, they all were simply too shocked to do anything but stare at the sight that finally shattered Erin's heart.

Yana was being cradled by her crying parents. Her moms face was buried in Yanas neck which muffled her sobs, while her dad comforted his wife and held his daughter's legs as he hung his head in shame with tears running down his face. Two riflemen stood on both sides of the grieving parents keeping a lookout for any Grimm.

Yanas form was so limp.

Her left arm hung from her body to the ground.

Her colorful hair was dull and dirty.

Her head was slacked and hung back in a way to where she was looking at him.

And her eyes…

… those once bright, hopeful eyes that always looked at him with happiness now looked at him with something else…

...they were so…

… lifeless.

Erin didn't even cry, for his mental state was too ruined for even that. He might as well have been a stone cold statue.

"Erin!" someone yelled behind him, but he didn't turn to look. The sound of two people running toward him increased, but slowed down to a stop right next to him. Yolo and Axel were both dirty looking and bruised up, they panted heavily as they tried to catch their breath. "Erin *pant*..." Yolo started talking "...wheres-".

He didn't finish as he followed Erin's eyes to where he was looking, Axel soon saw it to. Both of them stopped their panting and began crying loudly. Yolo covered his mouth from sheer terror of the sight of his dead friend before him, even Axel let out a few choked sobs as he went to hug Yolo who didn't fight it, but rather he hugged back.

Without a single word Erin turned around and began to walk away, keeping his facial expression in the same state of shock every step of the way.

The fires were out for the most part, and all the Grimm had been cleared out. Some moon light began to creep through the clouds of smoke and gave the village a white glow. Erin was making his way home, but it didn't feel like he was walking, it felt like his body was asleep because he couldn't feel anything. Everything around him seemed to be in slow motion, the troops escorting injured civilians, the medics tending to said injured civilians, fire teams putting out any remaining fires as the flames cried out hissing from being extinguished, and all the other families that cried in terror of today's events or from the pain of someone they lost.

Next thing he knew there were two boys in front of him that looked just as beat up as he was. "Erin! Hey man look we can't find Berit, have you seen him? He could be hurt or worse!" Gash asked Erin who looked to be in shock and didn't even look at him or Drake. Almost like he was sleep walking with his eyes open. Erin managed to muster up a response with one word…

…"Good."...

...And Erin was back to walking.

* * *

Erin's house luckily hadn't been caught on fire nor did the fire spread far enough to reach it. He lightly pushed the squeaky door open that broke the silence and stared into the dark house. It seemed so dead, like walking through a graveyard. Erin began walking up the stairs of his ghost house, the wood on the stairs whined with a creak on each step.

Erin was now in his bathroom looking down into his sink, his hands rested on the sides of the sink to support his weight. After several moments of silence Feliz decided to break it, "_Erin… are you ok?"_ he asked with sadness.

Erin remained quiet and the silence dawned upon him once again.

But that silence was shattered along with Erins mirror when he drove his fist into it causing, shards to go flying, his aura protected his hand from cuts and possibly breaking.

"RRRAAAAWWWW!" Erin screamed like Grimm and bawled his fists till they turned white. He stormed out of the bathroom and began tearing his room apart out of rage. Kicking the wall, throwing his toys, knocking everything down from his shelfs and headboards, all while screaming in rage. His screams soon turned into sobs after minutes of destroying his room. He stood in the middle of his room crying and holding himself while looking around at the result of his tantrum. In the piles of destroyed room his eyes landed on a picture frame that housed a photo of him and his Uncle when he caught his first fish. They both looked happy in that photo he was eight at the time and it was his first time fishing with him. The photo showed Erin holding a fishing pole in one hand and a string with a fish dangling on it in the other, his Uncle had his hand on his shoulder while they both smiled at the camera.

Erin picked up the photo and held it close to his chest. He curled up in the corner of his bed against the wall keeping the photo close to him. He began bawling his eyes out, he tried to scream again, but it just came out as a bunch of sobs. He cried for what felt like hours until he fell asleep.

* * *

**Morning**:

Sun light began to creep its way into Erin's room as the sun rose from its slumber. Erin's eyes began to slowly open as the warmth of the sun licked his face. He rubbed his eyes and stretched, the photo fell from his arms and on to his bed. "Mmmmmm *yawn*." he yawned from stretching, looking around his room a flood of memories came back to him, making his mood sour. "_This days gonna really suck."_ Kore said, "Can't be worse than last night." Erin replied back getting up from his bed and made his way down stairs. "_Should we get breakfast?" _Hugo asked, "I'm not hungry." Erin replied , Kore spoke next "_Are you actually hungry right now?" _he asked Hugo. "_I just thought we could get something to eat to replenish our body." _Hugo stated with sadness in his voice from the memories of last night, "Maybe later." Erin said with dread in his voice.

Erin stepped outside to be greeted by the morning breeze and an orange sky from the sunrise. Some smoke still arose from the village, but its not nearly as bad as last night. The village seemed dead like a ghost town, but he saw a couple guards patrolling the area and apparently some people already began strolling carts of building material from town to the damaged part of the village.

"_Erin…" _Feliz said a little scared to talk after last night, "Whats up Feliz? I'm not gonna go on a rampage again." Erin said reassuring his scared friend, "_...what are we gonna do?"_ he asked.

That was a good question, what **WERE** they gonna do? Erin didn't even want to think about his Uncle right now, it was too painful, he could already feel his throat tighten and his eyes water a bit from the memory, but managed to calm himself back down enough to answer Feliz. "I honestly don't kno-", he stopped talking when he noticed something sticking out of the mailbox. "What the, who the hells delivering mail right now." Erin said furrowing his eyebrows as he walked over to the mailbox. He opened the box to reveal a vanilla paper envelope with no name or anything on it. "_This seems suspicious."_ Hugo said, Feliz spoke up, "_Should we open it?"_ he asked, "_We got nothing better to do." _Kore said.

Erin tore open the envelope to reveal a letter.

**Letter:**

_I saw what you did last night at the market, and I saw what you lost. I understand the pain you feel right now. We don't know each other, but I know you possess a great power within yourself that you must be wondering to yourself how to use again. Your semblance is extremely rare and can be used for greatness, but you must be willing to go through great leaps to master it. I am giving you a choice here to do something with your gift. You can stay in your village not knowing what to do and probably continue fishing for a livivng, or you can be trained to become a very skilled and powerful huntsmen that can fight to prevent disasters such as these and save people from this pain. I know this all so sudden and you must have questions, but I can answer all you wish to know. If you accept, head to Mount Tlaloc in the outskirts of your village, it should be a day and a half walk._

_You and your friends fought well against that Ursa, you all have much potential to be proud huntsmen and change the world. So think long and hard about the weight of hardship this decision carries with it. Know you will be pushed to the limit of what you are capable of, and your aura will be broken again and again until you can't take another hit. I suggest you not let your semblance go to waste by being a fisher. Sien jou binnekort._

**End of letter:**

Erin was wide eyed at the end of the letter, was this really happening, he thought to himself.

After a long pregnant silence, "Well…"

"...shit.".

* * *

**So there you have the end of another chapter, it was longer than anticipated but that's ok, the next chapter will explain a little more about Erin's DID. Don't expect every chapter to come out this quick, it's Thanksgiving break after all so no school means more time… for now. Any way thank you all for reading and see ya next time.**


	3. Chapter 3

Personal Split

An RWBY fanfic story

By Donovan Ray Castillo

Chapter 3

* * *

**Hey guys, thanks for being patient, since school has started back up I'm having to take longer writing these chapters, but know I am working on them.**

* * *

Erin checked not once, not twice, but three times to make sure his pack had everything essential to him and his survival. Erin was moving fast on his feet to go through his destroyed room and find anything he considered useful. Feliz was excited "_WERE GONNA BE HUNTSMEN, WERE GONNA BE HUNTSMEN, WERE GONNA BE HUNTSMEN!"_ he exclaimed, and Kore was quickly losing his patience, "_FELIZ! Shut...up...PLEASE!" _he said in annoyance. "_But I can't! This is what we've been waiting for! This is SPECTACULAR!" _Feliz shouted in joy, Kore then replied, "_Oh so were just supposed to forget about last night!"_ he shouted, which made Erin stop in his steps. "_Ooooo I think you made him maaaad." _an annoying Chestnut said.

Erin furrowed his brows and continued packing, "We are not forgetting last night, were doing this because of last night, and we'll remember who we lost, they'll remind us every day why we decided to take this offer." he said with determination. Hugo tried to be the voice of reason, "_*sigh* Erin…"_ Hugo started, but Erin cut him off, "Just think about it!", "_I am thinking about it! And I think it's ridiculous! We just survived a Grimm attack that killed two people very close to us, then not even twelve hours later we get a mysterious note from a mysterious person and were suddenly leaving this place behind! What about Yolo, Axel, Chad, the Legartos, hell even Berit and his friends!" _Hugo vented out his frustration.

"*sigh* Look Hugo, it's gonna be hard I know, and it doesn't make much sense, but if we stay here were holding ourselves back from what we can be, Yana always told us to never waste a good opperitunity." Erin replied, trying to get his point out. "_And do you remember what Uncle Matt said about the dangers of huntsmen, I mean even the letter sounds dangerous!" _Hugo stated, but Chestnut butted in "_I think the letter sounds cool, and there's nothing wrong with a little danger!" _he exclaimed. Erin completely ignored him, "Hugo I'm not going to forget about last night or the rest of the people we have left, but staying here is not going to help us cope with it.", "_Oh and running off into the woods to a mountain with some, all mighty grand master is!"_ Hugo said getting angry, "WELL ITS BETTER THAN BEING SOME DUMB FISHER ***pound*** FOR THE REST OF MY LIFE!" he said pounding his shelf that had been cleared off from his tantrum, "And you can take control, but I'm gonna fight to take it right back until you give." Erin said between gritted teeth. Kore decided to intervene "_You guys should know that being angry and pissed off is my thing really, and I think you both can find a better way of solving this problem without yelling at each other and hitting stuff." _he said, Feliz joined in "_Yeah you guys, NO FIGHTING! Erin, you can't just leave our other friends without saying something to them first, there's too much to remember here without seeing it all one more time. And Hugo, you always think ahead of time on how a decision will play out, so how do you think staying here will play out good? We may survive off of this house and get a job as a fisher, but I mean… is that really our best option for living? That's not even really living thats… surviving, and it probably gets boring. I'm sure Chestnut would agree with me…", "Yeah, I admit, I do agree." _Chestnut said. "_... so instead of getting at each other's throats about what we disagree on, can't we just hug and try to do what we all want… together?"_ Feliz finished.

Everyone was silent at how Feliz managed to make Erin and Hugo feel guilty. Chestnut snickered, "_I love when he does that."_ he said. Erin gave a small laugh, "I guess I may have been too quick on my feet to wanna get out of here. I just didn't want to be held down every day by the memories of last night from having to live in this village, and from walking on that same path we lost Yana and Uncle Matt on. I won't forget them, and we'll take a stroll down memory lane to say goodbye to those we know are still alive… also I can't really hug you Hugo so I'll just do this." Erin then proceeded to wrap himself with his arms. Hugo also gave a small laugh, "_I… ugh… I may not have thought everything through this time. I suppose I wasn't taking into consideration how you may be feeling on the situation. I just thought you had forgotten all about the death of our friend and Uncle just because we got this proposition to be huntsmen. But you have to let me do a double check on our inventory for me to be fully on board."_. "DEAL!" Erin shouted, his eyes twitched to purple. Kore groaned, "_That's actually gonna be the fourth damn supply check in a row."_ he complained. However Feliz squealed from happiness "_YYYYYYES! I made everyone happy again, I'M THE GREATEEEEEEST!"_ he shouted in glee making everyone laugh.

"Hahaha, thank you Feliz, you always know how to make me smile." Erin said now in his own head. Hugo was going through the check list "You have my thanks to Feliz." he said smiling while checking off another box. Kore decided to support his friend, "_Good job buddy."_ was all he said, but it made Feliz feel twice as happy considering Kore just complimented him. Then Chestnut decided to tick Kore off again, "_Feliz really brings out the best in all of us, he even makes Kore seem like a loving care bear!" _he finished laughing menacingly. "_Well at least with Feliz there's actually something to care about, while I find myself just hating you more and more every passing day."_ he finished with mild bitterness. Everyone had a good laugh at that.

* * *

Erin was now at his Uncle's work shed near the bait shop, ironically though it wasn't near the docks at all. He took his pack off and propped it against the door to keep it open allowing light to enter the room, however the inside of the shed still had a creepy vibe to it. But he was able to find the tool he was looking for hanging on the wall. Chestnut began chanting, "_Machete, machete , machete…" _he paused as Erin was now just looking at the machete on the wall, he slowly brought his hand to the machete, but Chestnut didn't make a sound. Erin then grabbed the machete by the handle, "_MACHETE!"_ Chestnut screamed then laughed, "_What or who are we gonna kill!" _he asked. Erin rolled his eyes, "We're not gonna kill anyone…", "_Lame."_ Chestnut interrupted him, "...were gonna use it just in case we run into any Grimm along the way." Erin finished as he carefully stuck the blade in the main pouch of his travel pack, he kept the handle sticking out for easy access when he needed it. Before he walked out of the shed his eyes caught a certain fishing rod, and the memory of his first fishing trip with his uncle came back. Hugo knew exactly what Erin was thinking, "_We should move on to our next destination." _he said. "Yeah." Erin replied with a frown.

* * *

The next place was called **Bottoms Up**. It was a bar his uncle went to with his friends after they got done working, but unfortunately it was half burnt, and caved in on one side. A crowd of people were standing in front of it, most of them he recognized as his Uncles friends and colleagues, but not all of them were here, he saw the owner of the bar at the front of the crowd looking down in sadness at the shambles of his establishment. However some people brought a couple carts of building material over to help in the reconstruction which seemed to cheer him up a little. Feliz felt bad, "_Poor guy." _he said with sympathy. "Man… this was the most popular bar in the whole village, people from town would come down just for this bar." Erin said. Feliz asked "_Should we say something?"_, Erin replied "I don't know what to say, we don't really know him that well.". Kore spoke up, "_Well I only remember one good thing about this place."_, Felizs mood seemed to brighten at the memory, "_Yeah I remember!"_.

Erin grew a smile at the memory of this place; when Erin had caught his first fish Uncle Matt took him here to celebrate, he managed to get most of his friends and co workers to cheer and raise their mugs for Erin's achievement. Erin loved that memory, but he snapped out of his day dreaming when he noticed that the crowd began staring at him which made him feel a bit uncomfortable. One of the men stepped up to him, Erin recognized him as his Uncles boss. He had on a blue button up shirt with tan overalls, black boots, a big grey bushy beard that had some dirt in it, and a fishers hat atop his head. He took off that hat and looked down on Erin with sad blue eyes, "I'm sorry." he said trying to hold back tears, "Your Uncle did a lot for this community, and I hate it he left you here, so if you need anything, please don't hesitate to ask." he said, some of the other men looking at him hummed with agreement.

Erin looked to thoughs who worked with his Uncle, "Thank you all for being friends with my Uncle, and loving him like I did. I'm sure- no I **KNOW** he would be happy to hear you all be willing to care for me, especially when you guys have problems of your own, but you won't have to worry about that because… I'm leaving." that got a few murmurs from the crowd. Erin continued, "Don't try to stop me, I'm just saying goodbye is all so… goodbye.", and with that he walked off fast trying to avoid staring eyes that he could feel drilling into the back of his head. Kore spoke up, "_Nice ending to your little speech dipshit." _he said not helping. "Next stop." Erin said.

* * *

Blue skies, white fluffy clouds, the sun is shining in the sky, and the smell of fish filled his nose as he sat on the edge of the dock. Chestnut commented first, "_We never did bring that canoe back." _he said, "Hehehe thats whats on your mind right now." Erin replied. Feliz complained, "_It smells like fish, bleh!"_ he pretended to gag, Kore added "_You meant to say shit Feliz, it's ok, I know what you really meant."_. Erin took a deep breath and let it all out along with some of the stress built up, "You know… at this point, I think I might just be stalling… I'm scared guys, and I'm sorry if you guys don't one hundred percent agree with this.". After a little silence Kore broke it, "_Erin… I don't give a rats ass about what we do ok. I mean I'm probably gonna complain a couple times, and I actually don't mind being trained to kill those damn Grimm, but you gotta learn how to use your semblance again man, we could be the best team out there." _he said actually sounding excited about this. Feliz spoke next, "_Being able to walk around with my own body and fight with my own weapons! __***SQUEAL* **__You think well be good enough for Beacon.". _Kore groaned "_Oh man I don't even want to think about school, can't we just have this person train us then go out and kick ass."_. Chestnut cackled, "_Yeah! I wanna slice and dice those Grimm bastards! HAHAHAHA!" _he laughed out loud. Erin chuckled at his friends behavior, "What about you Hugo?" he asked staring out into the shimmering lake, the cool breeze blew his hair into his face which he pushed back. "_I think…" _Hugo started, "_...I think this is still stupid…"_, he said making Erin sigh and frown, "_...but…"_ Hugo started again which made Erin perk up, "_... I'm not about to let you guys put yourself in danger without me being there to pull you fools out of it." _he finished making everyone cheer in victory except Kore who simply just said, "_Cool."_.

Hugo had more to add, "_And I wouldn't mind being able to get revenge on some foolish Grimm while having my own body to fight them with.", _ he said with a little excitement. "Alright then, just wanted to make sure were all in agreement.", Erin said. He suddenly heard footsteps behind him and turned to see who was making it. He smirked to see Yolo and Axel smiling back at him, Erin patted on the two empty spaces beside him, they sat next to him dangling their legs off the edge of the dock. Erin continued staring out into space, "How are you guys holding up?", Erin asked. "Hm." Axel hummed in response, "Kinda hurts to move my left arm, but were fine apart for the two of us having no aura to protect us so we got a few cuts and bruises." Yolo said, but continued "What's with the pack?" he asked.

Erin pondered weather he should tell them, but decided telling lies wasn't right, especially right now. After a pregnant silence Erin spoke "I'm leaving.". Yolo and Axel looked at each other with shocked faces, "W-what?", Yolo asked standing up. Erin closed his eyes and sighed, Hugo sighed as well, "_Here we go."_ he said expecting the worst. "I-I just lost one of my best friends and now I'm going to lose another one, WHY!" Yolo yelled as he began to cry. Erin stood up to, followed by Axel, "Yolo I-I'm sorry, but I can't stay here anymore, I gotta make sure something like this doesn't happen again." Erin tried explaining. "OH AND WHAT ARE ***hiccup*** YOU GONNA ***hiccup*** DO!" Yolo yelled hiccuping through his cries, he took a couple seconds to compose himself before continuing.

"What about me and Axel, you just gonna forget about us, ABOUT YANA!" he yelled, Erin felt a little rage build up as his throat tightened, he took a step towards Yolo as his fists tightened, but Axel placed a hand on both of us to keep a fight from happening. Erin and Yolo were now giving each other death glares while Axel kept them at bay. Erin calmed down a bit before speaking, "I'm not going to forget about any of you… I love you guys, but I can't tell you where I'm going, just know that I'm doing this so that when something like this happens again I can save my friends instead of WATCHING THEM DIE! RIGHT THERE, SHE WAS RIGHT THERE AND…" Erin had to stop when tears started rolling down his face and his throat had a lump in it, Yolo started crying to while Axel was failing to try not to show the tears in his eyes, "... and then right in front of my eyes I watched her die, and there was nothing I could do ***sob***." Erin finished.

After a couple minutes of crying Yolo finally spoke, "So ***snif*** so it sounds like your finally gonna be a huntsmen, huh?". Erin only nodded in response, Yolo wiped his nose and coughed before speaking, "Well I hope it works out for you." he said as he began walking away, but Axel grabbed his shoulder and pulled on him to come back, "Hrm huh hhmm." he hummed and grunted to Yolo who seemed to understand what he said as he looked down at the wood dock planks. Erin's eyes twitched to yellow, Axel had taken his hands off of them, allowing Feliz to put a hand on Yolos shoulder.

Yolo looked up into those yellow eyes in sadness, Feliz quickly pulled him into a tight hug, "We love you Yolo… we love Axel… and we loved Yana… the time we all spent together couldn't possibly be forgotten, but the things that happened last night, happen probably every day out there, and that's something we're trying to prevent." he said. Yolo hugged back tightly and began crying again, "B-but isn't t-there another way t-to do it without ***hiccup* **leaving?" he asked crying, "C-can't you just be a g-guard? ***hiccup***" Yolo continued.

Feliz pulled back and moved the blonde hair covering one of Yolos eyes to reveal a red colored crying iris while the other iris was green, he had heterochromia, but was self conscious of it because of Berit and his friends. Erin looked into both of his eyes, "I have an opportunity to be something more. You remember what Yana always said about opportunities?" Feliz asked with a slight smile. Yolo wipe his eyes and nose and looked up at Feliz, "Not to waste ***sniff* **the good ones." Yolo said with a smile.

Felizs eyes twitched from yellow to purple. Hugo looked at both Axel and Yolo and sighed, "I didn't consent to this idea at first, but the fact is that attacks like this are bound to occur again, and when they do, we will be ready to fight back, maybe even prevent disasters like this so people don't have to endure the pain we're going through." he said. Axel and Yolo looked down as a pang of sadness hit them, but Hugo continued, "I understand your anger towards us right now, but we never intended to make you think we would forget about you guys. We just don't want you hating us before we leave." he finished. This time it was Yolo who hugged as he collided hard with Hugo hard, making him take a step back to keep his balance, Axel soon wrapped his big arms around the two and they hugged him back. "We don't hate you, just be careful and stay safe man." Axel said quietly. Erin took back control, "We will." he said.

Erin broke the hug and clasped hands with Axel one last time, but he felt Axel slip something into his hand. Erin opened his palm to see a shiny blue dust ice crystal, Erin looked up to Axel with a smile, "Thank you." he said with a single tear running down his face. They said there last goodbyes and Erin began to make his way to his next destination, the sounds of Yolo crying in the background hit him with a pang of guilt that almost made him want to forget about leaving, but he pressed on while holding back some tears himself. "_This is not going to be easy."_ Kore said in his low voice, "It shouldn't be." Erin replied.

* * *

Erin now stood in front of yellow caution tape that cut him off from his next destination. However there was a good reason for that because the stone path was littered in covered up bodies and decorated red with the lingering smell of blood. Erin almost vomited, but kept it down and used his shirt to cover his nose. The houses on the sides were either burnt to ash or barely standing. A bunch of people were putting up the covered bodies in body bags and loading them into carts to be taken away for burial. Some were cleaning the stone of blood and limbs, it got really disturbing when he saw one of the clean up crew pick up a blood covered doll that most likely belonged to a child.

Feliz saw enough "_I don't want to see this anymore."_ he whimpered. Chestnut spoke next, "_I usually think blood is cool, but this is a bit much." _he said which annoyed Kore, "_Maybe keep that first part to yourself dude, or just learn when to talk and when to stay quiet."_ he said. Erin could only think of one other place to find them, he wasted no time in leaving the gruesome scene.

* * *

Erin now stood looking at Lagartos Cafe with the big fish sign over the entrance, and looking through one of the windows he could see them, Yanas parents were sitting in a booth talking with the Lagartos. This Cafe was Yanas favorite place in town to hangout at, this place held most of her birthday parties, most of her lunch outings with friends, and many other memories of her rested in this building. He could at least kill two birds with one stone by saying bye to the Legarto's as well, the only problem was actually opening the door. Erin took a deep breath and let it out as he put his hand on the door handle, but took a couple steps back and groaned at how stressful this was. Kore was fed up "_Erin come on dude really, do I need to do it for you." _he said with irritation, "No, no, just ***sigh*** ok, ok, here we go.". Chestnut had an idea, "_I could do it for ya!" _he exclaimed.

"_**NO!"**_

"_**NO!"**_

"**NO!"**

"_**NO!"**_

Erin and the others yelled quickly causing Erin to push open the door before Chestnut could try to take control. The door rang the bell that hung above, catching the attention of the four other in the cafe. Maria and Reginald both popped up from their seats, "**ERIN!" **they both shouted in surprise and relief as they ran over to him. Maria enveloped him in a hug as she rubbed Erin's hair, "Thank goodness you're ok, how's your Uncle, was he hurt.". Erin said nothing for a couple seconds, "He's dead.". Reginald went wide eyed while his mothers sad expression seemed to deepen, Garrett pounded the table a bit with gritted teeth. Marias hug only tightened around Erin as he returned the hug. After a few seconds he broke away from her hug and looked at her, "I came here to actually ask how you guys were.". Maria only continued to look at Erin with sad purple eyes, her short black hair was all messy like she showered then dried it with a towel and stopped there, "***sigh*** We're not doing to good Erin… we failed to protect her, her own parents." she began to sob loudly. Garrett got up to escort her back to her seat, while Reginald took a chair from one of the tables and placed it at the end of their table for Erin to sit at.

Erin took his seat and waited patiently for Maria to finish crying. Once Maria resorted to sniffles and red eyes Erin spoke, "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to upset you more.". "No, no, it's fine. How are you feeling about this?" Maria asked. Feliz spoke up, "_They won't be mad to know you tried to help her, just tell them what happened,"_ he said, but Hugo quickly added "_Don't tell them about our semblance though."_ he said, "_Oh right, maybe leave that part out." _Feliz said. Erin began to speak softly, but loud enough to be heard as he looked down at his hands and fiddled with them, "I was right in front of her when that wall fell on her, and it was because of that damn Ursa. I ended up killing it, but it didn't bring her back, I failed to." he finished. He looked up to see everyone looking at him in surprise, Garrett was the first to ask, "Y-you killed it?" he asked with disbelief. Erin stared at him then slowly nodded, "Yes… yes I did. Look I gotta get going right now…" he said standing up, "... but I just wanted to say that I'm sorry for your lost and that I tried to help her, sorry I failed. I also wanted to you thank you Ms. Legarto for being a business partner with my Uncle, it was a pleasure.", Ms. Legarto snapped out of her surprised state to answer Erin, "Oh no, the pleasure was all mine, he was a great man. But Erin, if you don't mind me asking, why do you have a pack with you, are you going somewhere.". Kore decided to comment, "_Can we make this a quick goodbye, we still got one more place after this?"_ he asked, Hugo got on to him, "_Now is not the time to announce your annoyance you fool, let him take his time."_.

Erin sighed and turned to face them all, "I'm leaving, I can't say where, and I won't say why. Just know that I'll be fine alright.". Everyone was back to being surprised again, Reginald spoke first, "You can't be serious, Erin you can't.". Maria stood up, "Erin we just got attacked, there gonna have guards everywhere at the border and we've already been instructed not to go in the forest or we could be arrested. So maybe leaving isn't such a good idea right now, why don't you come stay with us for the time being sweetheart." she said in a very calming voice. She started walking over to take his hand but- "_CHEESE IT!" _Chestnut yelled. And Erin did just that as he sprinted out of the cafe, he could hear them yelling his name and it hurt like a knife through the heart to do them dirty like that, but he couldn't stay and risk being talked out of this. Erin made a turn down the ally way he got beat up in yesterday and climbed over the fence and continue running.

Erin was about to round the corner, "I think we're in the cleaaaaaawwwww shit." just as he ran around the corner he saw some people he didn't plan on seeing the rest of the time he was here. Erin was now face to face with Berit, Gash, and Drake, they all had bruises and patches on their face and arms, but Berit had a bandage around his head and his arm in a sling. Feliz was glad to see him, "_Berrits alive!" _he said with positivity, Kore on the other hand, "_Man I can't believe this guy is alive, like really him of all people!"_ he said harshly. Feliz was taken back, "_***gasp* **__Kore why would you say that.", "Because It's true, and I'm sure Chestnut was thinking about it to." _Kore replied, Chestnut replied, "_I was actually, but why not just kill him ourselves!"_ he suggested. Hugo added in "_Damn Kore, that's actually pretty cold, and Chestnut your a fool."_.

Erin was exchanging glances with all three of them, but while he was prepared for a fight he noticed the look in their eyes wasn't one of evil thoughts of what they were going to do to him today, more like they weren't in the mood. "O-oh ugh, h-hey Erin." Berit stuttered, Erin rubbed the back of his head, "Ugh, hey Berit, sup guys." Erin waved awkwardly at Gash and Drake. Kore was confused, "_What the hell am I watching here?" _he said. Erin continued the awkward conversation, "Sooo… how's your arm?", Berit rubbed his arm, "It's fine, just got released by the doc.." he said simply. Gash stepped up a bit, "What's with the pack?" he asked nodding to the pack he had on. "Well… it's ugh…***sigh***... It's your guys lucky day…" Erin said making his bullies raise an eyebrow in confusion, "... I'm leaving, so you guys won't have to deal with me anymore, but I doubt you guys will care what happens to me out their sooo… goodbye." Erin finished as he walked around them. Berit stepped by his friends, "Erin wait!" he cried out. Erin stopped in his tracks, and Feliz suggested, "_I think we should see what he has to say, maybe he's got something nice to say."_, but Chestnut butted in, "_And if he's still being an ass wipe well just break the other arm!" _he exclaimed, Kore snickered "_I can get behind that idea." _he said, "_Quiet you fools!"_, Hugo shushed them.

Erin turned around to look at the three of them. Berit spoke first, "This is our second time going through a Grimm attack like this.", Erin went a little slack jawed and wide eyed, "You three have been through another Grimm attack!?" he asked in a surprised tone. This time Drake spoke, "Yeah, we used to live in Kuroyuri, it was a big village like this, and we thought it would stand long after our life time, but it was destroyed by one Grimm." he answered. Erin was even more surprised now, "Just one?". This time Drake answered, "Just one.", Erin expression faded back to normal as he had another question, "Did you guys also have someone to bully there?" he asked a bit sternly. Gash answered again, "Y-yeah, some orange haired girl. We thought that by the first attack we learned something, and that when our parents moved us hear, we would change, but then we found ourselves angry at the world and each other because of the shit we went through at our old village, we needed someone to take it out on besides each other, soooo-", but Erin cut him off "Wait wait wait, that's why you guys bully me, to take your anger out on what you lost at your old village, and because what, life was to boring without one.". Kore was angered, "_These guys are some real grade A douchebags."_, Chestnut was planning some crazy scheme, "_You know what, why don't we just rip off his broken arm, that way he doesn't have to worry about breaking it again in the future, genius!" _He said laughing like a mad man.

The three bullies nodded in agreement at Erin's statement. Erin couldn't believe his ears, these guys not only were in another Grimm attack, but they decided to take their anger out on him and because their lives were just too boring without someone to pick on… THESE GUYS ARE DUMBASSES! "So what was the point of telling me your guys's backstory again, because to me it's some dumbass excuse for why you guys bully me." Erin asked in annoyance. Berit spoke first, "We just wanted you to know that in some way, we're gonna miss you." he answered with a smirk. Erin and his personalities were absolutely dumbstruck, speechless, flabbergasted, out of words, and whatever other words explain their emotions. Erin without saying a word, walked away hoping to never have to talk to people like them again, and because he wasted enough time, he would have to make their last stop quick.

* * *

Erin knew that telling mostly everyone he knew that he was leaving would not be easy, but it only got increasingly harder with each destination, so he wondered how this one would go. He wasn't sure if Berit and his friends were telling the truth about them being in a Grimm attack before, he's never heard of this Kuroyuri village, but he does believe that they bullied others before him, poor girl. Kore was outraged, "_What a bunch of dickheads, make us almost feel bad for them, then they say that they need someone to bully and that their going to miss bullying us. Man, Erin you should have let me beat the shit out of them!"_ he barked. "Maybe I would have, but we need our strength and aura for this trip, it's almost twelve a.m., we got a little bit of time." Erin replied. Feliz was a bit down, "_I actually thought we could end on a good note with them."_ he said disappointed, Hugo backed him up, "_Yeah their excuse didn't make much sense, but don't worry Feliz we won't see them anymore."_. Chestnut added, "_Seems really lazy."_ he said to Kores confusion, "_What does that mean- you know what nevermind I don't care, Erin how far are we from the library."_. "We're almost there, now can we just forget about those idiots?" Erin replied, Hugo spoke first, "_I concur with that decision." _he agreed, "_It's just so dumb, but yeah whatever."_ Kore replied.

Erin was now walking up the steps of the library, the big doors towered over him like two guards protecting an entrance to a castle. A cool breeze blasted him in the face when he stepped through the doors. The building was quiet as usual, but it was a different kind of quiet, instead of the regular library silence it was dead silent except for when the doors closed. No one was here, dread filled the air making Erin want to turn and leave. But he heard footsteps echo through the building, like someone tapping stones on the wood floor. An old man dressed in a black suit and tie with grey balding hair came around the corner of the hallway. "My goodness I wasn't expecting any company so soon after last night." the elderly man said. Erin grew a little nervous, "Oh, s-sorry I was just looking to see if Ms. Lezimo was here." he replied. The old man's poor face frowned at the question, "My dear boy… she's dead, I'm afraid. Died of a heart attack from last night." he said while using his handkerchief to wipe away the building tears.

Erin was once again heartbroken and wide eyed at the news, but Feliz was able to speak, "_No...no… w-why, why her. She was so kind to us… SHE DIDN'T DESERVE IT!" _Feliz shouted in anger, he wanted to cry, but didn't have control. However Erin began crying for him, letting the tears run down his red angry face. The man walked up to him and placed a hand on his shoulder and gave it a gentle squeeze, "I'm just as upset as you are my boy. I would always stay up till midnight helping her tidy up the place before leaving, we became good friends."Erin wiped the tears from his face and looked up to him with red puffy eyes, "I'm sorry ***sniff*,** I'll just be going now." Erin said getting free of the man's hand from his shoulder and made his way to the door. The man tried to help the kid more, "Are you sure there's nothing I can help you with." he asked with sympathy, Erin took a second to swallow the lump in his throat, "No, you can't." he said pushing the door open and stepping out into the warm sunny air. Now it was time for them to leave, and it was going to be the most difficult part of this trip not because it'll be emotional, but because Maria was right. There was going to be a lot of guards there.

* * *

Erin was now walking through a burnt part of the village, the smell of smoking wood thankfully canceled out the smell of blood from last nights carnage. The village must already be making plans on rebuilding because he could see dozens of construction teams clearing debris of burnt building by loading rubble into carts, and project managers were examining blueprints regarding different residential buildings or consumer stores. Our village doesn't have large trucks or machines, but we have basic electric tools, jackhammers, and other small equipment to build with, but other than that our community does most of the heavy lifting by hand.

Feliz had eventually calmed down and decided to talk again, "_Are we not going to say bye to Chad?"_ he asked a little sad still. "As much as I would like to thank him again for saving me, he can't find out that were leaving or he's gonna find us and probably arrest us for even attempting to leave." he said with his nerves growing. Hugo spoke next, "_I don't think our punishment would be that severe considering our age, but do you even have a plan for getting through the border patrol." _he asked. But Chestnut was quick to respond, "_I got an idea!" _he shouted with enthusiasm. However Kore wasn't going to let him explain it, "_No, I'd much rather hear what Erin has to say, hell I would rather go with one of Feliz's ideas before yours." _he said picking on Chestnut. "_I've had two successful ideas in the past day! Whatchu gotta say about that BITCH!" _Chestnut sassed back to Kore who was about to respond but Hugo cut him off, "_Your last idea could have resulted in death, I do not wish to find out what your next course of action will be."_ he said. Kore then responded to Chestnut, "_You try taking control I'll just fight you over it because your not doing anything till we're past the guards." _he said. Feliz came out of the blue "_Me and Chestnut will run support with cheering!" _

Erin had to stop their bickering, "Oh my god guys. . Were not going to go through their defenses, but we could go over it, in the trees.". Hugo thought for a moment, _"That... could work, but we would have to be careful with rustling leaves and breaking branches."_. "Yes I know Hugo, thank you." Ein replied, they were now about to enter the forest area of the village. Erin took a deep breath and exhaled slowly before looking both ways to make sure no one saw him, "Let's do this guys."

* * *

"Get those supplies to construction team, LETS GO PEOPLE!" an office barked his orders. Erin was about seventy yards away from the village border wall, it was made of wood and stone with a couple of scout towers running along the length of it. Erin was unfortunate enough to come across the side of the wall with the huge gaping open spot where the wall had collapsed to allow Grimm to enter. There were more guards in this area which made this part of the plan more hell. And it wasn't helping that there were carts of supplies coming in to his left and were leaving empty to his right. Erin had the perfect spot to be blocked out of sight from this trees enormous roots and some bushes.

Chestnut spoke up, _"Maybe my plan can help with this!" _he said with excitement. "Hell no, my plan can still work, the jackhammers they got over there can create enough noise for us to jump from tree to tree, we just got to wait for the right time to start climbing." Erin said looking at the construction crew unload the jackhammers from one of the carts. Feliz whined, _"I'm bored.". _Erin groaned, "Really, were gonna do this right now.". Chestnut took the opportunity to talk, _"My plan is very non-boring!". "Quiet you fools!"_ Hugo shouted to them.

Erin waited behind that tree for about ten minutes before he heard the sound of jackhammers eating away at stone. As if on que Erin looked to his left and right to find no carts, he smiled as he began climbing his tree from limb to limb, until he felt he was high enough. He began crawling along the length of one of the branches trying not to think about how high he was until he reached the tree closest to him and very carefully leaped to the crook of another tree and stretched his arms and legs out in time to catch himself from falling.

"Haha! That was awesome!" Erin said with a little adrenaline beginning to make its way through his body. Hugo had to be a buzz kill though, _"We still have a distance to go, no time to celebrate yet."_. "I could use a little support actually." Erin said, and support he got. _"GO ERIN! YOU GOT THIS!"_, _"YOU CAN GO FASTER THAN THAT!"_, _"BELIEVE IN YOURSELF!", "MOVE IT DAMMIT!", "WORK SMARTER NOT HARDER!", "YOUR THE MAN!", _"Ok stop…" Erin said having enough, but they kept going. "_DON'T GIVE UP!", "MOVE IT SHIT HEAD!", "BE SAFE!", "SWING LIKE A MONKEY!", "TAKE IT ONE STEP AT A TIME NO NEED TO RUSH!", "NO PRESSURE!"_, "...that's enough thank you…". "_PUT YOUR LEGS INTO IT.", "WE LOVE YOU!", "YOUR DOING EXTRAORDINARY!", _"...Oh. My. God. Shut. Up." Erin said annoyed from their so called "support", he could barely tell who was talking they were all shouting over each other, Feliz and Hugo gave the more encouraging cheers while Kore and Chestnut either cursed at him or said something stupid and unnecessary. Luckily the sound of the jackhammer canceled out the sound of Erin's tree hoping and talking back, every now and then he would have to stop and be quiet because the jackhammer would go silent for a short period of time before starting back up again.

Erin was just eight yards from getting over the wall and was using leaves on a branch for cover, but he was worried about the watch tower currently housing two watchmen. "Crap, ok we may have to think about using one of our distractions." Erin took off the pack and rested his back against the truck of the tree and put his pack between his legs on the branch. "Well Chestnut at least one of your ideas may come in handy." He said taking out some matches and a bundle of ten firecrackers tied together by the wick, the jackhammers stopped again. Chestnut laughed _"HAHAHA! Yes, see Hugo I told you they were a good idea!", "I said putting a hundred of them together was a bad idea you FOOL!" _Hugo shouted back, _"We were fine, and no got hurt." _Chestnut said thinking he was right. Kore now stepped in, _"You would have blown off our hand if it wasn't for your aura you dumbass!"_. "You guys could literally argue at any other time but this, I need to concentrate." he said in a low voice.

Erin was looking back to try and find an opening in time, so he could throw the firecrackers without being spotted. Erin decided to get ready and light a match, but broke it on the first swipe, _"Headass." _Kore said, "Shut up." Erin replied successfully lighting another match as it made a small hiss and began burning, he quickly looked around to make sure the guards were all facing away from him, which they were. Without wasting a second of time he lit the wick that would set them all off, ***pfffssssssss!*, **and through it across the wall and away from him.

***POP!* *POP!* *BANG!* *POP!***. The firecrackers went off making everyone turn their attention to the sound and away from Erin. Some of the guards ducked for cover thinking they were under attack by bandits or something, while others climbed up the watchtower trying to see what the commotion was. Erin took this opportunity to become a lemur and jump from tree to tree, "Here we go!" Erin half shouted as he leaped well over the massive wooden steaks that stood as the wall, and grabbed the branch of another tree on the other side of the wall making the leaves rattle. "Yes!" Erin cheered, "OVER THERE!" a guard shouted, "SHIT!" "_SHIT!"_ _"SHIT!" _Erin, Chestnut, and Kore shouted. ***SNAP!***, The tree branch he was hanging off of snapped, "SON OF A BI-" ***THUD!***. Erins aura protected him from the fall, but he could still feel the wind get knocked from his lungs, "***GASP!* *GASP!***" Erin's lungs slowly inflated and deflated as he tried taking mouth fulls of air, he looked up at the stars in his vision as his personalities were barking at him to get up and run. The guards began making their way down the tower and through the gap in the wall to detain the escapey.

Somehow Erin found the mentality to stagger to his feet and began a slow sloppy jog that soon turned into a fast paced sprint as his breathing became more controlled than desperate gasping, and his vision cleared letting him jump over or go around obstacles. A group of seven guards began chasing after him, "WE GOT A RUNNER, AFTER HIM!" one of them shouted. Erin was now running through brush and jumping over rocks trying to shake them off his tail, but they were still behind him and getting closer. "This stupid pack! Ok I need to get back into a tree!" Erin shouted. Hugo thought of a solution, "_Try using the rocks to get high enough to grab a branch!"_ he shouted.

Erin began scanning the terrain, he was coming up on a rock near a tree that seemed to be in his reach. "Lets try this." Erin said now running on the rock and leaping in the air with his arm stretched out… but he missed, landing back on the ground and staggering to keep his balance and kept running. "DAMN THIS PACK!" Erin shouted, he then tried again which resulted in the same thing, Kore decided to run his mouth, _"So do you plan on getting caught or are you gonna get us in a tree soon?"_ he asked not helping. "SHUT THE HELL UP!" Erin shouted getting pissed. "ERIN GET BACK HERE!" one of the guards shouted. Erin's anger was replaced with fear upon hearing that voice because he knows who it belongs to. Feliz spoke first, _"Is that who I think it is?"_ he said in excitement for some reason, Hugo was not excited though, _"Oh no, it's-"_, "Chad!" Erin finished with a scared yell.

He saw another rock up ahead with a sturdy looking branch hovering over it, he had to make this, Chad and his team were closing in on him fast. "Come on please, please, please…" Erin prayed as he began running up the rock putting his aura his legs, "...PLEASE!" he shouted now leaping into the air with his outstretched arms. The world seemed to move in slow motion and the only thing that was clear in his vision was the branch he was reaching for, everything went back to normal when his fingers wrapped around the branch. His forward momentum swung his legs into the air carrying his body with him, and his feet landed on the branch causing it to sway a bit, while his head was slightly dizzy from flip trick he just did. Erin stood up and pumped his fists in the air, "OOOOOOH YEAAAAAAAAH! THAT WAS SICK!" Erin shouted and his personalities were cheering, but that stopped when- "ERIN!". Erin looked down to see his tree was surrounded by the guards chasing him with guns pointing at him. Feliz spoke up, "_Ugh I forgot was this part of the plan?"_, "_Wasn't in my plan." _Chestnut declared.

One of the guards walked up to the tree "DON'T SHOOT, PUT YOUR GUNS DOWN!" he ordered as he took his helmet off. Erin smiled at who it was, "Heeeeey I know those pink jewels anywhere." he said as Chad looked like he was about to shoot lasers from his glaring eyes, "WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING!" he yelled making some of his soldiers flinch and back away. Erin squat down on the branch to keep his balance, "I'm hiding up in a tree from your angry eyes and guards." Erin said amusingly which only made Chad more pissed. "QUIT PLAYING GAMES WITH ME ERIN! I WANT TO KNOW WHY YOU'RE RUNNING FROM US!" Chad barked, Erin sighed and hung his head low before looking back up at him, "Because I'm leaving the village ok, I would have said bye but you would have just stopped me from leaving." "_Tell him I said hi!" _Feliz said with glee, "Feliz says hi by the way." Erin said. Kore groaned, "_Don't encourage him Erin!"_. "WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOUR LEAVING! WHAT WERE THINKING TRYING TO LEAVE!" Chad shouted in anger and confusion. Erin thought for a second before smiling, Hugo knew what was up, "_Erin you fool DON'T!" _he shouted trying to stop his friend, but it was too late. Erin looked at Chads now glowing pink eyes, "I'm thinking I won't have to worry about finding someone else with bad hair to take my place." he said with a smile… that went away when he saw what Chad did next.

"**RRRAAAWWW!" **Chad roared as his white aura covered his body and his eyes glowed like stars before shooting bright pink lasers at a nearby rock making it glow magma hot before exploding into dust and pebbles, all his men backed away from the rock and their officer while faces of shock and awe were hidden by helmets, but Erins gawking mouth and saucer eyes was open for everyone to see. Chad was panting heavily with a little sweat dripping down his face, steam rose from his pink eyes and his aura glowing dimmed until it was not visible.

Erin continued to stare with fear striking his nerves. Kore spoke first, "_Shit he's pissed.". _Hugo was next to suggest, "_We should start running now you FOOL!"_, "_That was awesome!" _Chestnut shouted. Erin went back to tree hopping again, his adrenaline making him move faster than before.

Chad heard movement in the tree to see Erin making his escape, "No Erin WAIT! DAMMIT!" he shouted in frustration. "FOLLOW HIM AND CATCH HIM IF HE FALLS!" Chad barked at his men snapping them out of their shocked phases. They all began running toward the tree hopping boy. Chad looked back at the small smoking black crater in the ground and sighed before running after Erin.

Erin felt like a monkey swinging, leaping, and running on the branches, he would be having fun if he wasn't still fear struck bye Chads show of semblance. "Holy hell I've never seen him that mad before. I really F'd up here." Erin admitted while hopping another tree, "_It's because your a FOOL!" _Hugo shouted. Feliz felt bad, "_Maybe we should apologize."_, Kore didn't agree, "_We'll send him a postcard from Tlaloc, let's just worry about escaping!" _He said. Hugo Heard something up ahead, _"Quiet… do you guys hear that."_. Erin heard it to, it sounded like running water and it was getting louder, he stopped hopping when he saw the next tree was on the other side of a fast moving water rapid. However there was a long branch that hung over the rapids a bit pointing to the other side where another tree held out its hand like branch for Erin to grab, but it seemed like a far jump and the pack wouldn't help.

Erin's eyes twitched green, "Let's do this!" Chestnut laughed with excitement as he ran along the branch, but stopped just as he started when his eyes twitched to red, "Oh no you don't!" Kore shouted taking control and plastered himself back to the trunk of the tree. His eyes twitched back to brown, "Guys quit it and let me think!" Erin said in frustration, looking down at the rapids and gulped nervously, "O-ok, ugh…" Erin was trying to think, he looked back to see the guards closing in on his tree, "... well shit, I guess we're doing it." he said raising his arms and letting them fall to his sides. Erin looked down the branch at the other tree and got into a running position and rocketed down the tree limb. Chad caught up in time to see what Erin was doing "ERIN WAIT!" he screamed, but Erin didn't plan on stopping. He pushed off hard, taking a leap of faith and reaching to grab the hand of the other tree limb…..

***SPLASH!***

Erin resubmerged spitting out the river water and gasped for air, "DAMIT!" Erin screamed now being dragged by the currents power. Erin's aura protected him from slamming into rocks and getting cuts. He could hear Chad shouting, "SOMEONE GET A LONG STICK WE GOTTA GET HIM OUT OF THERE!". Chad sounded more scared than angry as he continued following Erin down the river. Erin's personalities were telling him suggestions on what to do, but he shut them out while he was trying to grasp to a rock or get to land. But the constant force and drops from the rapids was causing him to lose focus.

Chad suddenly became terrified from what he saw up ahead, "Oh shit, ERIN YOU NEED TO GET TO SHORE NOW!" he barked.

"I'M, *gack!* *cough!*, TRYING!" he yelled accidentally swallowing some water. He looked behind him to see the river cutting off completely, but that only meant one thing… waterfall. _**"SWIIIIIIIIIIM!" **_all his personalities shouted at him, and Erin did just that trying to get to shore, but the current seemed to get faster. "CHAD!" Erin yelled reaching out to him.

"ERIN!" Chad yelled back putting more energy into his sprint. He held his arm out toward Erin as he was just a few yards from him, but the cliff in front of him was getting dangerously close.

Erin looked behind him to see he was about to go over now before looking back at Chad, "CHAAA-" he screamed as he went over the edge.

"NO!" Chad screamed as he slid and grasped a rock so he went off the edge not to fall but to hang over enough to reach his arm out to grab Erins hand…

… but he merely grazed Erins fingers, and all he could do was watch Erin screaming face while until his body vanished into the cloud of mist at the bottom of the falls.

Chad just continued staring down at what might as well been the boys watery grave, it was almost a three hundred yard fatal fall.

Chads men found him and heaved him back up, Chad sat on a rock panting, and put elbows on his knees while he ran his hands through his white messy mohawk as he looked out over the edge of the falls. Out of anger he stood up and punched the rock he sat on making it crack a bit, "DAMIT!" he screamed, "I want a search team and a medic ready to go in five minutes understood!" he barked at his men. "YES SIR!" they shouted at attention and ran back to the village to prepare a search party. Chad gave one last glance down at where Erin fell to find no body or pack floating, he sighed and made his way back to the rest of his squad.

A few seconds after Chad left, Erin resubmerged, "***GAAAAAASP*! *COUGH!* *COUGH!***" he began coughing up water as he swam over to the nearest patch of land to his right. Erin quickly hoisted himself into the grass and threw up a puddle of water, "*spit* *pant* *pant*" he was on all fours right now, soaking wet looking at his reflection in the puddle of water he made. His soaking wet exhausted face and the position he was in looked so familiar.

* * *

**Flash back three years ago:**

Erin screamed as his head was being held in the mucky water of the lake his Uncle would fish in. The bubbles of his precious oxygen floated up to join the rest of the air. The hand oh his head pulled his hair up allowing Erin to catch a breath, " ***GASP!* *GASP!* **STOP! ***GASP!* **IT! ***GASP***" young Erin begged spitting out the gross water. The eleven year old kids known as Berit, Gash, and Drake were laughing hysterically at the suffering wet boy. Berit being the leader asked his friends, "I don't know, do you guys think we should see if he can last longer?" he asked. Erin began to cry louder, but Berit covered his mouth making Erin thrash harder to try and escape. However Berit and his friends over powered him by sheer strength which eventually tired out Erin until he stopped fighting back. They were in the wooded area where there was a spot some fishermen went to stand and fish rather than the dock.

Erin could see the dock from here, but not his uncle, he was out at the bar drinking while Erin was sent out to collect worms to sell for a little extra lien. Unknown to him though he was followed by his worst enemies.

Gash looked at the metal pail not too far from them, "Actually, I have a better idea." he said letting go of Erins arm which Berit took hold of, giving Erin back his mouth. Gash snatched the pale from the ground and reached in to grab a hand full of slimy, wiggly worms that made Berit and Drake smile, but Erin looked absolutely terrified. "Hold him still for me will ya guys." he said, "Go for it!" Drake cheered. Erin tried to rip his arms free, but Berit pulled his hair harder making Erin yelp in pain, "Quit moving fish boy, your dinners comin right up, hehehe." Berit laughed darkly at Gash who was making his way towards Erin, a couple worms fell from his hand with each step. Erin turned his head, but Gash pulled his chin to face him, "Open." he demanded, but Erin had his jaws on lockdown. Gash pinched Erin's face making his lips come apart enough for Gash to slam the worms into his mouth, causing muffled screams to erupt from Erin. Erin shut his eyes and tried screaming but he couldn't, all he could do was let the tears roll down his red face as he felt worms wiggling in his mouth and on his tongue.

Berit looked at both his friends, "Alright well I'm hungry myself, how about we get something to eat fellas." he said as he gave a fierce kick to Erin's back making him face plant into the mud, his aura protected him. Erin lifted fis mudy face from the ground and spat out the worms, he began sobbing loudly while crawling away from Gash and Berit until his back was against a tree, Erin held his shaking arms up looking at the bullies with a quivering lip. Berit and his friends laughed evilly before walking away to continue their day.

Erin continued to sob and shake as he thought about him almost drowning. He hated this, but never was able to find the strength to fight back. It started when he was five and three years later it's still happening, how much longer would it go on? He wanted it to end so bad, but he knew that he could never be able to stop them. Erin suddenly felt a sharp pain in his head "Aaaawww!" he whined in pain, he was now panting hard as the pained worsened, but before he could scream in pain his eyes twitched wildly and he could feel himself losing control of his whole body except he could still see. Erin's eyes stopped twitching and opened to reveal a burning red pair of angry eyes. Erin was freaking out, "_What the heck is going on here! What is this!" _he shouted in his own head. "Don't worry about it Erin. I got this." the voice in control said, "_What the- who the heck are you." _Erin shouted. "I'm the guy who can do this." he said picking up a rock, "HEY BERIT!" he shouted throwing the rock just as Berit was turning his head to get a direct hit in the eye. Berit fell to the ground holding his eye, Gash and Drake kneeled down to their hurt friend, "AAAAGGGHHH! KILL THAT SON OF A BITCH!" he shouted. Drake and Gash ran at the red eyed Erin who flashed his red aura as intimidation which seemed to work as the two bullies stopped to look at each other before continuing their assault.

Red eyed Erin picked up the pale in time to block a punch from Gash making him hold his fist in pain as a swift blow to the head was delivered to his head knocking him out cold, but he was left wide open for a punch from Drake that made his head turn with some spit coming out, and even though his aura protected him, his red eyes seemed to glow a bit with anger causing Drake to feel a little fear. Red eyed Erin gave a roar that sounded like a tiger as he sped towards Drake who gave a gasp of surprise, but had no time to react as he was knocked out by an uppercut from a bucket making Drakes teeth clack hard.

Erin's eyes twitched back to brown, with regular Erin back in control. Erin dropped the bucket and looked at his hands and up to the bullies that he- NO! It was the other guy, "WHO THE HECK ARE YOU!" Erin shouted holding his head. "_I'm Kore, and I can help take care of dickheads like these guys.". _Berit wallowed on the floor and groaned in pain as Erin walked over to the lake and looked at his soaked exhausted looking face.

**End of flashback**

* * *

Erin shook his head and picked himself up and walked over to set his drenched pack down in the sun, then sat down on a rock enjoying the warm rays of sun drying his skin. Hugo broke the silence, "_We should go through our pack and set all our wet items out to dry while we still have sun, want me to do it?" _he asked, "Go for it." Erin said tiredly before his eyes twitched to purple. Hugo didn't waste time as he organized the wet clothes from the wet hard items from everything dry, having three piles. He hung wet clothes and the blanket over low tree limbs to dry in the sun, and placed all wet hard items like the machete to dry on the ground. He tried to save as many sandwiches as he could, but only three out of eight survived, it was ok though because they had plenty of apples, carrots, and granola bars to snack on. Hugo put all the dried items back into the bag and sat back on the rock returning control to Erin.

Erin reached for the bag and dug into one of the secret pockets, his hand became cold as he pulled out Yanas ice crystal, it was covered in frozen water, but it kept the same value. "You remember how we first met her right Feliz?", "_Yeaaaah, that was a good day."_ Feliz replied.

* * *

**Flashback two and a half years ago**:

"_Erin I'm not really good with being friendly you know, but I can beat the crap out of them if you'd like."_ Kore said trying to help with Erin's depression. Erin had been living here for almost 9 years and he has yet to make any friends except Kore. He didn't hate being Kores friend, but he needed physical friends. Since Kore beat up Berit, Drake and Gash their rivalry continued with Kore winning some and losing some, but just as he thought the bullies wouldn't be much of a problem anymore Berit and his friends told the other kids in the village that if they were seen being buddy buddy with him that they would become targets for harsh bullying. Now every kid avoids him, kids would move their soccer games somewhere else when he was seen approaching them. He was being shunned out of fear of being bullied like him, and eventually anger turned into depression. Now he just felt like the world was against him, especially his relationship with Uncle Matt seemed to be against him, because of their shortage in lien Uncle Matt has been stressed from working extra hours, meaning he would come home tired and cranky. At this point in his life Erin didn't really see a reason to continue being happy.

Erin sat on the edge of his bed in his dark room looking down at the floor, droplets of tears fell from his eyes and splashed on the floor. "***sniff* **I just don't understand, why does it have to be me." Erin croaked. _"Well hey I mean… Uncle Matt's not home right now, why don't we got to see Ms. Lezimo, she makes you happy right?" _Kore suggested really trying to make Erin feel better. "I think I'm just gonna take a nap actually, maybe tomorrow." Erin said laying back on his bed to try and catch some Z's, suddenly he got a sheering headache and sat up clutching at his hair, "Aaaawwww!" he hollered in pain. "Kore, AAAWWW! What are you doing!?" Erin asked in pain, "_It's not me!" _he replied just as confused. Erin's eyes began twitching and changed from brown to a sunny yellow color, and his brown flaring aura changed to a bright shining yellow that lit his whole room up like a light bulb, "HELLOOOOOOO!" a bubbly voice cheered from Erin's body. Erin being in his own head now, "_Is this really happening again!?"_ he asked. "WOWZERS! This place is so dull, glad I could brighten things up a bit!" the new voice said with so much positivity.

Erin was astonished, he had just gotten a new personality and he seemed to have a very… unique attitude, "_Who are you?"_ Erin asked eager to get to know this new friend of his. "I'm Feliz, how's it goin!" Feliz said with a wide bright smile. Erin explained his situation about Berit and how he can't make any friends because of them, even though Feliz had Erin's memories of what was happening. "Well I know you feel like all hope is lost Erin, but rest assured I can make things better, TO TOWN!"

**Now in Town:**

Feliz was saying hi to all the passing people in town until Kore said something, _"Feliz, focus please.". _"Oh right, the best way to make friends is helping those in a desperate situation.". After a few minutes of looking around for trouble, they found some when they looked left down an intersection to see Berit, Gash, and Drake shoving a small blonde boy down an alley while no one was around. Erin got worried, _"We should avoid that situation." _he said not wanting to mess with the stronger older kids, Kore spoke up, _"I can take care of them if they mess with us."_ he said with a low deep growl.

Feliz began to jog over to the alley way and could already hear laughing and someone grunting. Erin only got more nervous, _"Oh man."_ he said timidly. Feliz turned to see Berit holding up a blonde kid by the collar while he was pushed up against the brick wall, Drake was holding a handful of blonde hair out of the boys face to reveal two different colored eyes. "LET ME GO!" the boy cried out trying to get out of Berits iron grip. "Shut up you little two eye colored freak!" Berit spat in his face making the boy cringe. The boy slapped Berit which didn't hurt him, but it sure did piss him off because Berit threw the kid at the wall behind him, "OOF!" the air knocked out of his lungs as he landed on a trash bag. Drake sent a kick to the boys stomach making him go wide eyed and clutch his belly, some spit leaked from his mouth.

"THATS ENOUGH!" Feliz barked at the trio of bullies. Berit grinned at the unexpected guest, "Well, you weren't on the agenda today, but since you came all this way here for us, we'll let you join in on the fun." Berit said cracking his knuckles as they advanced on him. _"Remind me what your plan was again." _Kore said. Feliz backed up a bit as nerves grew in his stomach, "I-I, ugh-", Erin began to freak out, _"I knew this was a bad idea!" _Erin freaked out. Berit stopped causing his friends to stop, he looked closer at Erin's eyes to see them yellow rather than red, "What the? Who are you-!"!" Berit stopped and the trio began to back up with worry on their faces. Feliz, Erin, and Kore were shocked to see this, "Ugh, yeah, y-you better back up." Feliz said trying to sound tough, but when he saw two silouetts on the ground he turned around to see a girl with pink and blue hair with turquoise eyes, and a tall, strong looking dark skinned boy with brown pushed back hair, they looked mad.

The girl stood side by side with Feliz, followed by the tall boy, "Leave now Berit!" she spat with venom and continued, "You can't take us all on." she finished. Berit and his friends glared at them, "Lets go guys, we'll finish this another time." he said as they walked past a crying Yolo and out of the ally. "Axel go help Yolo." she said to the tall boy who apparently was Axel. Axel grunted in response and went to help the boy named Yolo, then the girl turned to Feliz and gave a beautiful smile that made Feliz blush a little, "Thanks for helping my friend, that was pretty brave of you to stand up to all three of them at once, I'm Yana by the way." she said holding her hand out. Erin shouted at Feliz, "_Don't just stand there say something!"_, making Feliz snap out of his trance, "OH! Sorry, I'm Feliz!" he said taking her hand and shaking it. "Nice to meet ya!" they both said making them laugh a little.

They both turned to see Axel supporting a hurt Yolo, Yana put her hands over her mouth, "***GASP!*** Yolo are you ok?" she said running up to his side to help him walk. He winced a bit, clutching his stomach, "I'll be fine, this guy saved my butt though." he said nodding toward Feliz. "I just so happened to pass by is all." Feliz said with a smile. Yolo held out a fist, "Well I'm Yolo and this is Axel, he's not much of a talker, but he'll open to you eventually, and I see you've met Yana." Yolo said. Feliz fist bumped him, "Yeah, I'm Feliz by the way… Oh but the original is Erin." Feliz said making the three kids look at him in confusion, "Original guy?" Yana asked. Feliz's eyes twitched rapidly turning back to brown. Erin looked at them all, "Hi, I ugh, I'm Erin, and I have DID."

The three of them stared at him for a few seconds, making Erin nervous and uncomfortable. Yolo spoke first, "That. Is. Awesome!" he shouted that last word in excitement. Yana stepped in front of Erin, "I know who you are, your the guy Berit really has it out for, says he'll punish any kid who talks to you." she said pointing at him. Erin gave a nervous smile and rubbed the back of his head, "Y-yeah, that would be me." he said thinking they would abandon him now, but Yana said the complete opposite, "Well we don't follow his rules, so we can give you a good opportunity to join our friend group, I wouldn't waste it." she said holding her arms out to Axel and Yolo.

Erin was stunned for a bit before finally responding, "I accept.". Yana smiled sinisterly, "Alright then, down on a knee." She simply said. Erin looked at her in confusion, "What?". Yolo deadpaned from behind her, "Just do it and get it over with man." he said enthusiastically, Erin could only assume he has been through this himself. Yana grew impatient, "I SAID ON YOUR KNEE!" she raised her voice. "OK, OK! Gosh dang." he said getting on one knee.

A passing civilian was passing by to see Erin on a knee in front of a girl, and simply just backed up slowly and walked the other way.

Yana began to initiate him into their group, "In honor of your heroic deed in saving our friend, I hereby officially make you apart of this strong group of friends to fight against the evils of Berits rain of terror! WELCOME!" she screamed hugging Erin and lifting him to his feet. Feliz fealt superb, "_YAY! I kept my promise to you Erin!" _he exclaimed in joy. Erin smiled and whispered to himself, "Thanks Feliz, I'm glad I have someone who knows how to make me smile."

Kore scoffed, "_Whatever at least I tried."_, "_I can make you happy too! I'm Feliz, what's your name again?" _Feliz asked with glee. Kore just sighed, "_***sigh***_ _Lucky meeee."_ he said with sarcasm.

**End of flashback**

* * *

Erin tucked away the crystal with a frown and wiped away the small tears that poked at the corners of his eyes. Kore spoke first, _"The world can be an ass sometimes, but we just find ways to get through it."_ he said in a mellow tone. Feliz added in, _"It wasn't always bad, eventually the world made things better for us when Uncle Matt wasn't always angry."_. Erin grimaced at the memory of how his Uncle was a bit… out of control when Erin was entering his Uncle's life. Uncle Matt lived by himself and had a steady flow of lien and food to get by himself, but when Erin came into his life as just a toddler, it made his life extremely more difficult, which led to stress, anger, and more drinking. Lets just say Uncle Matt wasn't always the **best** Uncle, that came with time.

Uncle Matt wasn't abusive, but he scared Erin a lot when he came home drunk or angry or both, and it made Erin feel horrible knowing that he was the cause of all that. "At least we learned some valuable lessons and skills during that time, were probably better people because of those harsh times, and besides if it weren't for Uncle Matt I wouldn't have met you guys." Erin said being honest. Chestnut cooed, "Aaaawww, well I was just doing my part to keep us alive when I came to you.", but Hugo thought otherwise, "_Well from what I heard it was foolish, what if you had been caught, Uncle Matt would have beaten us.". _Chestnut just groaned "_It was necessary_._"_. Hugo hummed in agreement and spoke, "_I to did what was necessary to keep us from freezing, I believe my situation was a bit more intense than Chestnuts."_. Kore went next, "_I kickass when I know it's necessary, which it usually is."_. Feliz laughed like a kid before speaking, "_I like it when we all share like this, when it's necessary!"_ he gleamed with joy. Erin chuckled a bit, "Ok guys we can stop using the word necessary."

Erin continued to converse with his personalities, they talked about last night, they talked about his semblance, but they mostly talked about what lies ahead of their future. Tlaloc mountain was still a distance away, but didn't just run from laser eye Chad and fall down a waterfall just to turn around because of a long walk.

Erin and his personalities stopped their talking when they heard shouting in the distance. Erin furrowed his brow and walked over to the edge of land that he washed up on and looked up to the top of the falls. Suddenly three ropes were thrown down the rock wall of the cliff on the other side of the lake. Men started to make their way down the rope with rock climbing gear and weapons. Erin knew they were from the village and that Chad was probably still looking for him. "Oh no." he said before he started to quickly pack.

Round two was about to commence.

* * *

**And now I'm giving back stories on Erins DID. DID is supposed to be caused by past trauma, that involves abuse, depression or a horrible accident. So hopefully I made it seem like that in these origin stories and don't worry you'll get the other two next chapter**


	4. Chapter 4

Personal Split

A RWBY fanfic story

By Donovan Ray Castillo

Chapter 4

Erin made quick work in cramming everything into his pack regardless of organization, he was barely able to get it zipped before he fled the area as fast as he could into the wilderness and to his the area. "I can't believe their this dedicated to finding me!" Erin said ducking under a branch and hopping over a rock, Feliz had a thought, "_Why don't you tell Chad about your semblance and the letter and maybe he'll understand."_. Hugo disagreed, "_Feliz, Chad wouldn't allow us to continue our mission regardless of what we say, he'll put us in cuffs before we even say a word!" _he exclaimed, and then Chestnuts horrible timing, "_Ooooo hand cuffs huh… kinky."_ he purred, "SHUT UP!" "_**SHUT UP!"**_, everyone yelled at his immaturity.

Erin got a face full of leaves which irritated him, but he pressed on further into the forests tent of trees, the terrain was rocky and hilly which after sometime of running tired Erin out, for he was sweating through is shirt on his chest, back, and armpits. Erin stopped to rest his hands on the back of his head, "***huff* *pant* **Ok ***huff***, time for a break.". Chestnut complained, "_But running from the law is fun, why stop now."_ Erin then climbed up a tree with plenty of leaves to keep him shaded from the burning sun as he planted himself on a thick branch with his pack between his legs.

Erin dug out his canteen while Feliz tried to brighten the mood, "_Anyone else having fuuuuuun.". _Kore sighed, "_Beats having to deliver fish through town, or dig through dirt for worms… I hate worms."_ he finished. If Hugo was being honest, "_Well it's definitely not boring , but we need to be more careful from here on out because now we got guards looking for us and they won't be so nice to us for all the trouble we've put them through." _he said with seriousness.

The thought of his punishment for this sent a chill through Erins nerves, he took another swig from his canteen and wiped his mouth, "I think we should take a quick snack break and get our energy back before we start hiking again.". Feliz acted like a child, "_Snack time's the best time!"_ he cheered, which made Kore groan, "_Your going to be the most childish huntsman in all of remnant, you do realize that right."_, but Feliz continued to be positive about it, "_That's not the worst thing I can be."_ he said annoying Kore a little more. Erin stopped them, "That's enough you two, lets just enjoy this moment in silence." he said pulling out a red shiny apple, he was going to take a bite out of it, but just stared at it for a moment.

* * *

**Flashback one and a half years ago:**

Erin looked at the entrance to the market area, he wore a grey sweatshirt and pants, in his hands was a brown straw sack with three holes in it, two for his eyes, one for his mouth. "I don't think I can do this guys." young Erin said, Kore sighed, _"Erin… We. Are going. To starve. We need something to eat.". _he said frustrated. Erin knew Kore was right, things at home haven't been much better since food got low and they started rationing. Erin and his Uncle were living off of the small lien they made every two weeks which was barely enough to sustain food, water, and shelter. Erin would try to help his Uncle, but he would always be in a pissed off mood which scared Erin away from him.

Feliz spoke, "_Can we just go home and think of something else?"_ he asked with sadness, "Yeah, stealing isn't my thing." he said stuffing the mask into his pocket. Kore didn't try to stop them, "_***sigh* **__Fine… you got another idea then." _he asked. Erin could literally feel himself getting weaker by the day, "I don't know, maybe just see if has anything, but I don't want to bother her… I don't know, lets just sleep on it." Erin said with a groggy voice. His aura got weaker along with his strength, Kore couldn't last as long as he used to in fights with Berit and was only losing more and more due to less energy.

Erin began to make his way home, the sun would be setting soon. He suddenly got a pang of hunger that made him slump over and clutch his stomach, Kore got annoyed, "_How long are you going to keep this up huh, we gotta eat something eventually. Can't we just keep asking our friends for food?" _he suggested. Erin got annoyed at that, "No Kore we've already asked for enough from them, we can't just keep asking every day for snacks and water, it'll just annoy them, then we'll lose them- aahh!" Erin slumped on a nearby building wall as his stomach growled in hunger again. Passing people gave him strange looks, Erin noticed this and covered his embarrassed face before sprinting back to his house.

Erin stumbled a bit walking up to his front door as Feliz grew a little nervous, "_Oh man, I hope Uncle Matts in a good mood."_ he said a bit scared, but Kore tried to put him at ease, "_I'm sure he's passed out drunk on the living room couch by now."_ he reassured which made Feliz think, "_Wait but… if he has money for booze… why not use that for food?" _he asked innocently. Erin furrowed his brow, "Because some adults have a tendency to drink when life is stressful, and they hide some lien to buy more." Erin explained entering his house.

Erin tiptoed into the sun lit house, looking around to see that his uncle was awake and sitting on the couch slumped over staring into his glass of alcohol while a bottle of Vale Ale sat on the coffee table in front of him, he stared up at the sound of the door opening to meet Erin's nervous gaze. Uncle Matt didn't move, rather he stared at Erin for a short moment before speaking, "Where have you been." he croaked in a deep voice before taking a sip from his glass. Kore tried to help Erin, "_Quit acting so suspicious and answer!"_ he exclaimed which put more pressure on Erin, but Feliz stepped in, "_Don't pressure him Kore it won't help. Erin just relax and answer casually."_ he said which made Erin quietly let out a breath he didn't know he was holding. Erin made his way to the stairs, being sure to keep the mask out of sight, "I was just out with friends… how have you been?" he asked composing his nervousness and giving a fake smile.

Uncle Matt went back to staring into his drink as if it were speaking to him, "How do you think I've been Erin." he replied coldly before taking another drink. That was like a shot through the heart for Erin, and it was guilt that had pulled the trigger, he could already feel the tears welled up in his eyes, but quickly forced them back. Feliz had an idea, "_Try starting a conversation with him."_ he said with positivity, but Kore had his doubts, "_Oh man this atta be good." _he said sarcastically.

Erin pondered for a moment before just saying whatever came to mind, "Any luck on food?" he forced himself to say. Oh man that was bad timing, he could literally feel the air stiffen for a second as Erin held his breath at how tense the atmosphere became. A few seconds felt like hours before Uncle Matt responded, "No Erin. I didn't get any damn luck on food." he said sternly as his grip around the glass tightened till his palm was white. Erin's heart sank at that and his nerves sent a ghostly chill through his body, even Feliz and Kore were at a loss of words. Erin was about to walk upstairs, but stopped on the first step and turned around, "I… I can help you know… I'm not just a burden for you to bare, just tell me how I can help." Erin said desperately trying to get through to his Uncle. Uncle Matt stood up sluggishly and turned to Erin with a scowl, "Oh and how can you help huh, your just a damn nine year old kid, who's going to hire that huh!" he shouted making Erin flinch, he could feel his eyes beginning to get leaky. Uncle Matt grabbed his ale off the coffee table and took a wobbly step towards Erin, "I-I-I…" Erin started but was cut off, "I was doing just fine on my own!" Uncle Matt shouted throwing the bottle at the wall ***SHATTER!***, completely missing Erin, but his aura protected him from getting nicked by shards of glass that sparkled through the air before covering the floor.

Feliz shouted, "_RUN!" _out of pure fear, Erin was already bolting up the stairs to his room, he slammed the door shut and hid under his bed crying, his heart pounded on his ribs like it was trying to break free. Kore was pissed, "_I can't believe that asswhole threw a bottle at us!"_ he growled in anger. Feliz was scared, "_What if he comes up here, what do we do!"_ he panicked. "_If he comes up here I'm taking control, I don't care how tired I am, he ain't gonna hurt us."_ Kore said defiantly. They waited under the bed for a while as the sun grew closer to setting, giving Erin's room an erie orange glow, his crying eventually subsided into sniffles and a gloomy mood. Feliz was the first to speak, "_I think it's safe to go out now." _he said a bit cautiously.

Erin climbed out from under the bed and sat on it, his fear was soon replaced with the reminder of hunger as his stomach roared to Erin's discomfort. Erin began to shed streams of tears again. Feliz felt bad, "_I'm sorry Erin." _he said with sympathy, "No…" Erin said wiping his face with the sleeve of his sweatshirt, "...***sniff*** I'm sorry… I couldn't steal food ***sniff* **and I still can't… I just can't ***sob* **take that risk." Erin finished with hanging his head in shame and sobbing. Suddenly Erin got a shearing headache that brought him to the floor on his knees holding his head, "Aaaawww!" he cried out. It was happening again, it felt like his head was splitting apart of itself. Erin began to lose control of his body as his eyes twitched from brown… to green.

Erin being in his own head again, _"Alright I know the drill, who are you and what are you like?"_ he asked the new personality in control, but instead of answering with words he just laughed to himself, "Hehehehe… I **love** taking risks." the new guy said sinisterly with a menacing smile. He made his way to his window that showed the sleepy sun getting lower, he opened that window. Erin got a bit concerned, "_Woah dude, what are you doing?" _he asked as the green eyed Erin propped himself on the window pain in a crouch position looking down at the stone path, "Hahahahaha! This is gonna be fun!" he cackled. Kore tried to stop him, "_Don't you dare you crazy bastard!"_ he shouted, and Feliz tried to assist, "_Ummm, we have a door, but I also don't want to go down stairs right now."_ he said a bit nervously. Green eyed Erin's smile grew almost touching his ears, "Here we go!" he said jumping while the voices in his head shouted at him not to.

Just as he landed on the ground he rolled which didn't even require aura for protection as he jumped from the role and was now running back to the market with excitement in his eyes, "Seeeeee, now that wasn't so bad" green eyed Erin said smuggishly. Kore wasn't happy, "_I already don't like you."_ he stated, "_Kore don't be so rude to our new friend."_ Feliz said being his usual nice self. "I got an idea!" Green eyed Erin said running, but slowed down when a painful cry of hunger erupted, but continued onward to the market.

Along the way it was learned that green eyed Erin's name was Chestnut, and he had a personality that was one of a kind. They thought Yana was crazy, but this guy seemed to be psychotic."Hehehehe, you guys ready for a thrill ride!" he exclaimed entering the soon closing market. Erin now realized, _"So you're going to be the one stealing huh, just don't get caught?" _he said casually. Kore wasn't going to stop him, "_Just don't be a headass… headass."_ he stated which made Chestnut cackle, "Oh I like you, were gonna be great friends!" he said with an evil smile, but Feliz didn't see the bad in it, _"See Kore, this guy is just looking for friends like me."_ he said innocently which made Kore groan in annoyance.

Chestnut ducked behind a shady spot between empty stalls, secluded from the eyes of passing people. "Hehehehe." he laughed sinisterly to himself, putting on the mask, "Damn this thing is itchy." Chestnut complained. Erin spoke, "_It was kind of a last minute idea ok.". _

Chestnut came out of the spot and made his way to the stall of apples. There were full baskets showing off the red shiny apples and a couple string bags hung from the roof that were also full of apples, they seemed to tease their eyes and make Chestnuts mouth water. Only one problem stopped Chestnut from just grabbing a bag, and it was a beefy farmer looking guy with a large bushy facial beard that manned the station, his arms crossed his chest and seemed to be shielding the apples in the baskets, and while the man's posture looked intimidating, his face seemed plushed and friendly. After staring for a few seconds Kore finally spoke up, "_Well are you gonna keep gawking or are you gonna do something!"_ he shouted making Chestnut snap out of his trance, "Right, just trying not to get us killed by Paul Bunyan over here, and I'm waiting for the right time." he said making his way to the stand. The few people that remained in the market gave Chestnut some strange looks, but Chestnut could care less, he just needed the food.

"_Any time now Chestnut."_ Kore grew impatient, but Erin stopped his complaining, "_We wait to play it safe and we can gorge ourselves, so just let Chestnut do his thing ok."_ Erin stated, "_Well I'm getting pretty tired at just looking at the damn things!"_ he said getting frustrated. As they continued their blabbering Chestnut was walking slower waiting for the right moment to "Now!" Chestnut exclaimed lunging to the stand just as the big guy turned his back and snatched a bag of apples, "YOINK! HAHAHAHA!" he laughed hysterically while darting away. The man looked at the running thief, "HEY!" he roared with rage. The whole stall rocked when the man barged out charging after the thief, "SOMEONE STOP HIM!" his voice boomed over the entire market.

Feliz seemed calmer than usual, "_Wow, he is mad."_ he said. "_You don't say. Ok Chestnut what's your next crazy scheme, because now we're running more for our lives than just for food." _Erin said. Kore spoke next, "_Why did we agree to this again?"_ he asked annoyed.

"Don't worry guys, I can shake him!" Chestnut exclaimed, he was already feeling tired from lack of energy, "Man you guys have gone a while without a proper ***pant*** meal, that's crazy, ***pant*** and not in a good way." he said trying to keep the same pace of running. "GET BACK HERE THIEF!" his voice thundered making a few people get out of the way of the situation rather than try and stop it.

Chestnut knew he couldn't keep going in a straight line for long so he thought of a risky plan to get this raging bull of a man off his tail, he began to slow his pace allowing the man to slowly catch up with him. "YOUR A DEAD MAN WHEN I GET YA THIEF!" he shouted now gaining on Chestnut. Kore spoke for Erin and Feliz when he shouted, "_WHY THE HELL ARE YOU SLOWING DOWN?!"_. "Just watch!" Chestnut exclaimed with a smile as he looked back to see the charging man starting to reach for him. "Just a little- NOW!" he shouted making a last second sharp turn down another row of stalls. The man's anger turned to confusion as the thief disappeared, he tried to stop himself , but was going too fast and tripped causing him to roll several feet before stopping.

He sat up and spit some dirt out of his mouth before punching the ground, "DAMNIT!" he shouted, some people walked up to him to try and help him, but he waved them off, "Get off of me!" he growled before brushing himself off and retreated back to his apple stand in anger.

Chestnut now was now sitting on the edge of the docks with a bag of plentiful apples at his side. "_That was crazy and waaaaay to close." _Erin said with concern. "It was a risk I was willing to take, and besides, look at the pay off!" he exclaimed excitedly taking out an apple and throwing it in the air to catch it. Kore was a bit peeved, "_Maybe __**we**_ _weren't willing to take that risk you moron."_, but Feliz stopped them all, "_Guys come on, it's been a rough afternoon… can't we just enjoy some apples."_ he said successfully defusing the bickering bomb.

Erin retook control and held the apple to his face, "I think that's a great idea ***cruuu-**

**End of flashback**

* * *

**-uuunch* **Mmmmmm" Erin hummed as hee took a bit from the sweet juicy apple, "Dats a gud apple." he said with a mouthful. He looked out at mount Tlaloc, he's only ever known it to be just a mountain and nothing more really, but if someone really did live up there then they probably didn't want to be found… so why ask him to go there? And what kind of training would he be going through in a mountain? "I guess I can ask all the questions I want when we get there. ***crunch***" he said taking another bite from his apple. Hugo spoke up, "_We should get moving, it'll be getting dark soon and we need to find a spot for camp."_ he suggested, "But I just dtarted gedin into dis apple." he said with a mouthful of apple. Feliz wasn't ready to leave either, "_It's a nice relaxing view up here anyway, why not just relax a little longer."_ he said happily. Kore didn't care, "_Don't care."_, and Chestnut had a thought, "_You guys think Chad is still looking for us?" _he asked specifically to Erin.

After a moment of thought Erin came to realize that Chad was probably still looking for him, he knew Chad too well to know that he won't give up so easy. "You know guys, Hugo's right, we gotta get moving. The sooner we get to that mountain the sooner we can get some answers on how to use my semblance." he said putting on his pack and making his way down from the tree. "_Yeah, I can't_ _wait to have hands again!" _Feliz exclaimed happily. Erin took one more look from the way they came to make sure they weren't followed before marching his way to his destination to try and cover as much ground as he could before they stopped to set up camp.

* * *

**Earlier**

Chad and his search team of nine men had safely made it down the rock wall and began to search the perimeter for about five minutes. "There's nothing here sir." one of his men stated to Chad, another spoke up, "You think the current dragged him down the stream?". Chad had thought that, as much as he didn't want to believe it, but he wasn't going to stop his search on a thought. He'd known Erin for a while now to know that he was a determined and hard cased boy. Erin would probably be ballsy enough to go looking for him if he ever got lost on a mission, because that was Erin for you, and if Erin was willing to look for his sorry ass if in danger then Chad would be damned before he stopped because of a river or a few Grimm.

Chad looked to his men, "Alright everyone on me! We need to cross this stream alright, if there's a chance Erin washed up on the other side he may have gone deep into the forest. The current here is calm so we shouldn't have a problem getting over, let's get a move on now!" he finished getting into the water followed by the splashes of his men getting in and swimming to the other side.

Once on the side where Erin had dried his clothes and equipment at, Chad gave his orders, "Look for blood or anything that says he was here." he said getting to work. Not even a full minute into the search and Chad had already found something, he bent down and picked up a damp box of matches and looked into the shady lush green forest. He heard the forest talk to him through the sounds of birds and other animal noises in the distance like he was being warned. Chad's eyes narrowed into the green abyss of leaves and trees, "Everyone on me, and stay alert for anything that moves." he said getting his men in a horizontal line formation to cover more ground.

Chad looked up to see a spot in the forests blanket of leaves that exposed the sight of Tlaloc mountain standing proudly over its land. Chad knew where Erin was going now, and he had to stop him before he finds out what he's really getting into. The secret war, the maidens, Erin's too young and too innocent to be involved in it. "What are you going to do with him?" he mumbled to himself before directing his attention to his team, "Let's move out before we lose too much daylight." he ordered taking the first step into the shade of the forest trees. He only hope that when he found Erin ...he'd listen.

Erin was now in a clearing where they had a camp fire set up, but not lit. _"How did you forget the matches!" _Kore yelled. "We were in a rush okay damn, besides Hugo put out literally everything to dry!" Erin exclaimed back. Hugo was quick to reply, "_Ooooh no, don't try to pin this on me, how do you expect us to make a fire with wet matches!"_. "Why not just put them in an easier spot to grab!" Erin tried defending himself, but Hugo wasn't having it, "_How does that make sense!"_. Feliz was tired of the bickering, "_Guys it's cold and getting dark, can't we just find a way to make the fire… and have s'mores?"_. Erin sat on one of the rocks near the fire and sighed, then Chestnut spoke up, "_Do we actually have ingredients for s'mores!?"_ Chestnut asked excited. "_No you moron!"_ Kore barked at him, "_Damn you Feliz!"_ Chestnut cried out. Hugo put a stop to them, "_Enough! Erin I packed a flint and knife in the right side pocket.". _

Erin dug through the side pocket and lo and behold was a knife and flint stick. "Welp… let's get to it." he said getting some leaves together and was about to start lighting, but instead just stared at the knife and flint. "_Ugh, Erin you good?" _Feliz asked.

* * *

**Flashback one year ago**

"But Uncle Matt I don't want to do this!" Erin cried out, "I DON'T CARE IF YOU DONT WANT TO DO THIS, IT'S SOMETHING YOU GOT TO LEARN LIKE EVERYONE ELSE HAS!" Uncle Matt screamed back. Erin and his Uncle were out camping to learn about survival and get away from the stress of work back at the village. Uncle Matt managed to get a temporary job as a bartender at Bottoms Up which got food back on the table, but was still stressful for Uncle Matt since he's never been a bartender before.

The day was going surprisingly well until night came along and Uncle Matt wanted Erin to start the fire. Erin knew how to start it, just getting it started was the problem, especially when all he had was a knife and flit. Eventually it turned into a tense argument in the woods, away from the village. The heat between the twos exchangement of yelling seemed to form a warm atmosphere around them for a moment until the stiff cold of night sent shivers through their nerves and caused goose bumps to rise off their necks and arms.

Uncle Matt shivered a bit before zipping up his jacket, he was now fed up with the arguing, "You know what… I'm going to go in the tent and set up our sleeping bags, and if I come out here to see your shivering ass on the ground with no fire going, then so help me you'll be sleeping out here until it's done. So get it. DONE!" he demanded, and with that Uncle Matt retreated into the tents cozy protection from the outsides bone rattling, teeth chattering, chilly breeze.

Erin kneeled in front of the fire pit and stuffed his hands in the sleeves of his jacket. He heard the rustling of leaves and looked around to see the breeze was making every tree hiss as branches swayed and some leaves were blown from their home.

Erin wanted to cry, but Kore was against that, _"Don't cry Erin, it makes you look weak."_, _"Kore don't be like, we have to help him." _Feliz got on to Kore. _"I am helping him, that old dickhead won't put up with Erin crying, it'll just make things worse." _Kore stated his claim. Chestnut had a thought, _"Why don't we set his tent on fire! That atta warm him up, right!?" _Chestnut laughed maniacally. _"Your a moron, you are everything that's wrong on Remnant you know that." _Kore said in his pissed off mood. In the six months Chestnuts been around he's been a handful to deal with and talks a lot, even when he really shouldn't.

Erin stopped their arguing, "G-g-guys stop, let's just g-g-get this done." he said as he hesitantly took his hands from their toasty nest which was his sleeves. He picked up the cold knife and flint with his numbing fingers and began to hack away desperately at the flint, causing a few sparks to ignite the area in an orange glow, but the leaves wouldn't catch. "C-come on you stupid! AH!" Erin yelped as the knife grazed his finger, he dropped the knife and flint to inspect the damaged, but his aura protected him.

Erin felt like breaking down in sobs, but held it in and started punching the ground in anger. Feliz tried to calm him down, _"Erin stop!" _he exclaimed. "No!" he snarled back, "I don't understand why I can't d-do t-this! Aaaaahhhh!" a stabbing headache grew in Erin's head. "Are you- aahh-kidding me!" Erin exclaimed knowing what was going on. _"ANOTHER FRIEND!" _Feliz cheered in excitement. Erin began losing control of his limbs and his eyes twitched from brown…. to purple.

Erin now being back in his head, _"This always feel really strange for me." _Erin commented and Kore responded, _"You get used to it."_ Kore said with a hinting tone that he hasn't been in control for a while making Erin feel a bit guilty.

Chestnut spoke up, _"Aaaaalright, Identify yourself intruder!" _He said in a fake intimidating voice. _"Greaaaat first impression dipshit."_ Kore said bitterly.

Purple eyed Erin cupped his hands around his mouth and breathed on them before rubbing them together. "I'm H-hugo, and it seems my arrival w-was at an imperfect time due to this dreadful weather condition.". Kore spoke, "_What kind of accent is that?"_ he asked, then Feliz, "_I don't like big words."_ he stated, then Chestnut, "Are you a nerd or a geek?" he asked. Erin was the only one to talk sense, "_Hugo it's good to meet you, I'm Erin, and were on a time limit, we got to get a fire started before Uncle Matt comes out from the tent." _Erin explained rather quickly. "Y-yes yes I'm aware of the s-s-situation, for some reason I have m-memories of… the past… but it feels as if they d-don't belong to me at the s-same time." Hugo said confused and shivering, "You know what I can't partake in this cold weather much longer I need a fire." Hugo stated picking up the knife and flint.

Erin wondered, "_Did you guys feel like that when you first… came to me? I don't know what the right word is." _Erin asked. Chestnut chuckled a bit creepily before speaking, "_Yeaaaaah, but I didn't think much of it, I thought I was just INSANE!"_. _"Your already insane! And I also had a similar experience, but I was pissed at Berit and his friends to ask about it… then I just kinda forgot about it." _Kore said thinking about the past. Feliz pondered for a bit, _"It might have happened to me… wait what am I remembering again?"_ he asked confused.

While Erin talked amongst his personalities, Hugo was working on the fire. He moved to a different spot to keep the breeze from blowing the leaves away and stroked the flint with the knife at a different angle to get more sparks. Hugo got some smoke coming from the leaves and softly blew on it, but nothing. He strikes the flint again and blew on it getting a faint but hopeful glow orange glow. And on the third stroke, ***Fuuupph***, a small orange flame burned to life and began eating away at the dry leaves.

_**"YES!"**_ Erin and his personalities cheered in victory.

Hugo began to slowly feed the hungry flame, but it began to die down. _"Its dying!"_ Feliz cried out. "Nononono! Come on, come on." Hugo prayed blowing on the burning leaves. _"Don't ruin your moment of glory!" _Kore shouted not being that supportive.

Hugo kept lightly blowing on the burning leaves and putting a couple dry ones on it. After a couple seconds it caught and began spreading to the other dry leaves.

Everyone gave a cheer of reassurance as Hugo pushed the burning leaves more into the center where the flame could spread and feed more.

After a few minutes of warming up next to a bright, dancing flame. Uncle Matt came out and Hugo turned his head to see him exiting the tent in a jacket and comfy looking sweatpants. Uncle Matt's gaze first landed on the open flame warming the air, "See I knew you could do it, it's not that hard. Was really worth making me yell at yo-" he stopped when his eyes met with Erin's purple. Uncle Matt sighed, "***sigh*** Here we go again." he said unenthusiastically.

**End of flashback**

* * *

Erin shook his head to snap out of his thought, "Yeah yeah I'm fine, it's just… memories is all." Erin answer. _"Was it a good memory?" _Feliz asked in a happy tone. Erin gave a low chuckle, "Yeah, you could say that… it was Hugo's birthday." he said smiling. Kore just groaned, "_Oh god are we about to get all emotional and shit?"_, Chestnut cackled, "_Kore's like a crab, hard on the outside, but such a swofty on de inswide. HAHAHAHA!"_ he laughed at his teasing. That did not make Kore happy, "You know Chestnut the best part about having our own bodies is that I can finally KICK YOUR ASS!" he barked. "You guys chill out, shit." Erin said shutting them up as he hacked away at the flit causing stars of sparks to land on the dry leaves and burn a flame. Erin blew on and fed it so it could grow brighter and spread faster.

Erin pulled up a large fallen branch to sit on and leaned his pack on the ground next to where he sat, holding his hands out to absorb the warm licks of heat from the flames. Erin felt more relaxed then he had in a while with a warm fire, the light of the moon, and the sounds of crickets chatting echoed through the empty chill night. Erin looked up into the thousands of blinking starry eyes that decorated the sky... it was beautiful.

Erin exhaled deeply and slowly let it out through his mouth, "_A penny for your thoughts?"_ Hugo asked. Erin was silent for a bit before speaking, "I've just been thinking about how you guys came into my life. One by one you guys made an impact in my life and continue to do so, I… I just want to make sure that when I learn to master my semblance… we won't actually split apart from each other, you know, w-we'll be a team for as long as we're huntsman right?" he asked.

Feliz spoke first, "_I'm not going anywhere, you'll always have me to fight by your side."_. Chestnut chuckled loudly, "_I LOVE BEING IN THIS GROUP! I wouldn't follow anyone else into a fight, besides… what would Kore do without me."_ he said trying to be annoying. "_I'll stay if I can beat the shit out of him in training… and you guys are the only people I really have that I can stand to be around except Chestnut really, so I might as well stay."_ Kore said despite knowing his friends wouldn't forget how emotional he just got. Last to speak was Hugo, "_I wouldn't have it any other way."_ he said short and simply. Their responses lifted a bunch of weight off his chest, he felt like he could breathe better to. Erin and his personalities continued to chat with small talk, bickering, laughs, and they each got control of the body to tell a campfire story, until they began to settle down for the.

* * *

Chad and his men had set up camp for the night with a fire and makeshift shelter after a long day of walking through a thick forest of rocky hills and tall trees. Chad and three other men were finishing up their chow while the other six were either finishing the shelters or securing a perimeter to keep clear of Grimm packs. Chad stood up from his log seat, "I'll take first watch, the rest of you finish up and get some shut eye, next lookout shift will be in an hour. Good job today, I know you guys hate being out here and would rather be with your families right now, but I appreciate it. I'll be sure to have the captain commend you guys for this." he stated to his men which earned some thanks and hums of appreciations.

Chad sat in a tree that had a clear view of the surrounding area around the camp, but right now he was staring up at the shattered moon that hung in the sky along with the shimmering stars. If Erin really wanted this why stop him, he's talked to the kid enough to know it was his dream to get in that kind of work. He tried to offer Erin a spot in being a village defender when he got old enough, but Erin said he wanted something challenging. That memory made him smile as bit he looked back down at his camp to see the fire beginning to tire out and fade.

Chad took out a folded paper from his pocket and unfolded it to reveal a photo of his team back when he was at Beacon Academy. A flood of memories filled his mind as he stared at his old teammates, two of his best guy friends were shoulder to shoulder with him as their female leader was piggy backing on Chads shoulders with a huge grin on her face. She had dark brown skin, with vines of long black braids with three braids being colored green, blue, and pink that hung down to her back, and her combat outfit revealed a bit much of skin due to her being from the deserts of Vacuo, but she didn't mind the lingering eyes, just as long as they never made a move on her.

They were a great team that knocked others out of the park, their missions seemed flawless, and they won the Vytle Fest tournament twice. Everything for them was going so great… until Headmaster Ozpin called for their leader to reveal the truth about the world, the maidens, and the secret war to try and get her to join his resistant group against the Queen of Grimm and was told to keep it a secret, but she came to us instead and told us what she was informed of. It tore the team apart, Chads two best friends moved away before they could graduate leaving him and his leader which brought them closer as friends… for a while.

When they decided to move from the city, they settled here in the village of Bergseite to get far from Ozpin and tried to live a life together, but time slowly drifted her away as the pressure of this knowledge proved too much to bare and needed space from people… and him, which made Chad sad to remind himself that he couldn't help relieve her of this burden.

He sighed, his warm breath lingered in the brisk cold air as he folded his photo and put it back in his pocket. He looked into the distance at Mount Tlaloc, "I can't let you drag the kid into this." he whispered to himself. He just wanted to finish his shift and sleep this guilt off.

Once Chad finished his shift he got about three hours of sleep before the lookout came running through the trees, "UP UP EVERYONE UP WE GOT GRIMM!" he barked making every body shoot up out of there stick hut into the frigid air with their rifles out and pointed their lights at the soldier who woke them, the fires life had been reduced to embers. Chad who had drawn his dual pistols lowered them and stepped forward, "Woods, what's going on?!" Chad's question was more of a demand.

The soldier Woods pointed a shaky finger into the dark abyss of the woods, "Grimm! D-dozens of them!" he said a bit shaken up."Woods I need more than that, what kind of Grimm!?" Chad pushed for information, but before Woods could answer a Beowulf emerged from the darkness, pouncing on Woods and pinning him to the ground making him scream in surprise and fear. The Beowulf raised its head and looked at the other soldiers with blood lust in its eyes and gave horrific roar, **"RRRAAAWWW!"**. Chad and his men wasted no time in raising their weapons and gunned down the beast in a second as it disintegrated. Chad rushed to lift Woods to his feet, "You good private?" he asked, "Y-y-yeah!" he accidentally shouted.

Suddenly the darkness began to move and glow red, everybody pointed their barrels and lights into the forest to reveal a whole pack of Beowulfs and a couple of Boartusks. The Beowulfs began to circle them snarling with hunger while the Boartusks snorted and dug into the ground, ready to charge.

Chad and his team were surrounded, but they didn't retreat to their stick huts. Rather they checked their guns picked their targets, and took a firing stance. "EVERYONE CIRCLE UP!" Chad ordered, and now they were all back to back with each other.

The Grimm noticed this and barked at each other to get ready to attack as they to got into position.

Chad didn't flinch or feel a pinch of fear in his body, but he needed his men at their best right now, "Remember your training, you know where the weak spots are so don't let your fear throw you off or your dead. We got this." Chad finished putting a little hope in his men.

They couldn't see it, but Chad's eyes began to glow pink as he was ready to use his semblance if he had to.

Then after a few seconds of intense staring… shots were fired.

* * *

After telling and listening to made up stories, Erin was tired and needed sleep. He picked up the blanket he had next to the fire to dry which resulted in a warm and toasty cloth to sleep in. "Hhhhmmmm." he purred as he rubbed the warm blanket into his cheek. Chestnut laughed, _"Should we give you two some alone time oooor?" _he asked, chuckling. Hugo spoke next, _"Erin! Spoon the blanket later, let's get some sleep." _he said. "Hhhmmm oookaaay." Erin said still induced by the blankets coziness.

Erin climbed up in a tree and settled snugly onto a branch, using the pack as a pillow. Erin said goodnight to his personalities as his eyelids grew heavy until they were closed.

.

.

.

.

"AAAAAAHHHHH!"

Erin jumped and shot his eyes open wide awake now, feeling of sleep had vanished from the intense scream. Erin looked around to see he was no longer in the tree, but back at the village which was burning. Smoke clouded the sky, raining down ashes, and the fire kept the village lit as he stood in the middle of a stony path. "What the hell… guys are you seeing this!" he asked his personalities while looking around at his burning village once again, but no one responded.

"Guys… someone say somethi-!", "ERIN!" a voice called out his name. Erin turned around to see Yana cut up, bruised and dirty. Erin's face paled, "No… no please not again." he shook his head and backed up a bit.

_**"Failure."**_

A voice whispered through the air. Erin looked around, "What, who's there!" he snarled. "ERIN!" Yana yelled before running to him. Erin's eyes widened, "YANA NO! STOP!" he yelled as he started running towards her, but the stone path seemed to stretch, making her seem farther while he tried to sprint faster, but he felt as though he was running in place. "YANA NO!" he shouted to her, but she didn't stop. "ERI-" Yana started but was cut off as the wall fell on her just like before, muffling her scream of surprise. Erin stopped running and watched it all play over again as the large form of an Ursa emerged from the dust with glowing red marks and eyes, its steps shook the ground like an earthquake.

Erin tried to move, but like last time he was fear stricken and couldn't move. **"RRRRRAAAAAWWWWW!"** the Ursa thundered as it began to charge. Erin knew what was coming next and was not ready for it. "ERIN!" he heard his Uncle scream.

_**"Your burdensss." **_

The voice whispered again, he kept trying to turn his head and yell to his Uncle but couldn't. "ERIN YOU NEED TO MOOOVE!" he heard his Uncle shout as he got closer to him. All he could do was stare at the charging Ursa and shed a single tear before he was pushed out of the way and landed on the ground hard. Erin quickly stood up and looked at where he was standing to see the Ursa looking at him blood thirsty.

But then everything around him including the ground fade to black smoke that began to surround him like a giant tornado. A massive hand with sharp pointed fingers made of the black smoke began to reach for him, making him back up.

_**"Give." **_

The voice said as the hand got closer.

"No."

_**"Me."**_

"No!"

_**"CONTROL!"**_, a face made of smoke emerged from the black tornado of ash and smoke as the face seemed to bare long sharp fangs of that of a snake.

"NO!"

* * *

Erin shot his head up from the pack he was laying on while breathing heavy. _"What happened?" _Feliz asked in concern. "I-"

***BANG!* *BANG!***.

Erin turned his head to the sound of gunfire in the distance, but it sounded somewhat close. Hugo and Erin both realized, "Chad." _"Chad."_ they said in union. Erin shoved the blanket in the pack and climbed down the tree, as the gunfire continued. Erin's fire had reduced to glowing red hot embers and a pile of ash. Erin tried to pinpoint where the shooting was coming from, then Feliz spoke, _"Should we help?" _he asked. Hugo disagreed, _"We would only get in the way, and probably get killed.", _Chestnut spoke next, _"It sounds fun though! Hehehehe!" _he laughed. _"Anything dangerous is fun to you! Look can we just make a decision, are we helping or not!" _Kore growled growing impatience.

The gun shots suddenly stopped which made Erin cringe, "Maybe we should just keep moving." he suggested as he turned around and immediately bumped into something black, furry, and… growling. Erin backed up to see the bony red lined mask of a Beowulf standing on its hind legs. Its teeth parted as it gave a low growl. Erin slowly backed up and pulled the machete from his pack, "Oh shit." he said. Hugo spoke, "_Don't succumb to fear, that's what it desires." _he said. Feliz spoke next, "_Yeah and don't die… please."_ he said a bit nervous, "_How does that help Feliz!"_ Kore got on to him, "_Hush you fools! Your not helping!"_ Hugo intervened.

"None of you are helping!" Erin shouted shutting them up, but Chestnut couldn't help it, "_TAME IT!"_ he shouted earning a "SHUT UP!" from everyone. The Beowulf dropped on all fours and circled Erin when it noticed he wasn't going to run. Erin took a stance from the one in his dream he had a while ago and put his leg back to brace for an attack. The Beowulf just licked its teeth which sent a chill down Erins spine, but that moment of fear gave the Beowulf the opening to leap at him, but Erin brought the machete up to block the attack which resulted in the wolf's claw coming down on the tip of the blade. The Beowulf snarled and reared back at the pain holding its paw to its chest.

Erin's personalities cheered as he went wide eyed and smiled a bit, "Aaawww what's the matter did that hurt." he said taunting, "Well then your gonna hate this!" he said charging at the Beowulf and bringing the blade down on the Beowulf's head, "_FINISH HIM!"_ Chestnut yelled.

***DIIIIING!***

The machete blade rang from vibrating as it bounced off the Beowulf's bony mask.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

"_**RUN AWAY!"**_ all his personalities shouted.

The Beowulf swiped at Erin with its claws in response which Erin just narrowly dodged, but his machete got caught and went flying out of his hands, jabbing into a tree trunk. Erin looked back at the Beowulf that began slowly pacing over to Erin before rearing at him with open jaws. Erin got out of the way and jumped over the fire pit with glowing embers in it. ***SNAP!***. The Beowulf snapped at nothing but air, yet it continued to pursue its attack on Erin, opening its jaws to try again. Erin quickly kicked the embers at the Beowulf, getting hot pieces of wood, ash and smoke in its mouth. "**RRRAAAWWW!"** the monster cried out in pain trying to get the burning embers out of its mouth.

Erin took this opportunity to try and get his machete out of the tree. He ran over to it and began pulling, but it didn't budge, he pulled harder and got a slight movement. The Beowulf recovered to see Erin pulling at a tree, it shot daggers at the human and sprinted towards him. Erin looked back to see this, and Hugo tried to warn him, "_Erin we need to move!"_, "NO! I almost got it.". Kore now spoke, "_Erin I hate to agree with the nerd but you gotta move buddy, like RIGHT! NOW"_ he shouted. "Almost got it!" he struggled almost getting it free.

The Beowulf roared as it slashed at Erin and sent him flying into another tree as his aura protected him. The Beowulf looked at the tree to see a piece of metal sticking out from it, but pulled its attention back to its fallen prey and growled deeply before advancing towards him with it's red hot eyes glaring at his slumped form. It stopped though when Erin clumsily stood up and stared death right back in the eyes, but instead of brown eyes, they were a deadly red. Kore flared his aura for intimidation which made the Beowulf get in a defensive position. Kore lifted the machete in his hand to see it broken but still sharp, "You BASTARD! RRRAAWWW!" he gave is tiger like roar as he charged at the Beowulf. The Grimm wolf roared as it lunged at Kore with intent to bite his head off. "**RRRAAAW-!" *CHLIRK!". **The Beowulf's roar was cut off as Kore jabed the broken blade into the monsters throat, "_YEAH!" _Chestnut cheered. ***Sssssssss.***. It desintagrated.

Kore panted as he dropped the broken machete, "Erin *pant* don't be *pant* a goddamn dumbass." Kore stated in frustration. Kore let Erin retake control, "Thanks for the save." he said as he grabbed his pack. Once again the night went back to crickets singing and fire flies decorating the darkness like nothing had happened. Chestnut spoke up, "_Well… that was cool."_ he said. "_Sooooo, what now?"_ Feliz asked. Erin looked up at the mountain they were close to, the white moon light reflected off its surface making it look elegant. "We keep moving...right now." he said sternly, grabbing his pack and making his way to their destination. "_So what do you propose we do if we come into contact with more Grimm, huh?"_ Hugo asked with sas.

Erin stopped in his tracks and looked up at the trees… they would tree hop till dawn.

* * *

**Hours later**

After hours of traveling the morning sun now stood in the sky, warming the surface with its rays. Erin said nothing about the dream he had last night. He began to notice the elevation raising a bit and more rocks were beginning to appear in greater numbers and size. "I think we're almost there!" Erin exclaimed now jogging up the inclined land.

After a few minutes of jogging Erin reached a clearing up ahead which caused him to push himself into a full on sprint until he emerged from the shade of the forest trees and into the open area of rocks, grass, and an enormous mountain in front of him. "We… we made it. WE REALLY MADE IT!" Erin screamed in joy as he jumped up and down in circles, he really wanted to drop to his knees cry, but decided not to ruin the moment. "_Haza!"_ Hugo exclaimed, "_YIPEEEE!"_ Feliz squealed, "_Huntsman class here we COME!HAHAHA!" _Chestnut cackled, "Yeah cool great let's get a move on now." Kore rushed.

Erin stopped jumping when he faced the mountain once again only there was a cloaked figure that wasn't standing there just a second ago. It creeped him and his personalities out at how he wasn't able to hear this person's footsteps. Feliz spoke, "_Is anyone else creeped out by this person?"_, Hugo replied, "_Maybe they sent the letter?"_ he asked, but wasn't too sure.

The hooded figure raised their arms making Erin flinch a bit until the figure removed the hood to reveal a… stunning woman with dark brown skin, orange eyes, golden piercings on her ears, and long black braids with three colored ones.

Erin looked away to hide a small blush on his face, "_Damn… she's hot." _Chestnut said facetiously, "_Quiet you fool." _Hugo shushed him. Erin quickly redirected his gaze back to her hard glare. "_She's scary." _Feliz stated. "Ugh… d-did you send me this letter?" he asked hesitantly taking out a folded paper and held it out for her to see.

Her face seemed to soften upon seeing the letter, her lips hooked ou into a small smile. She began to make her way to him, Erin shifted a bit uncomfortably which Kore wondered about, "_What's with you right now?"_ he asked a bit annoyed by Erins worry. "I don't know, she's intimidating and… and hot ok." he whispered quietly, "_Oh my god, get a hold of yourself man." _Kore said, "_But can you really blame him, hehehe." _Chestnut added only for Hugo to stop him, "_Enough you blabbering fool!" _he exclaimed.

Erin wanted them all to shut up because he was kind of freaking out, he thought that once he got here he would be excited to meet this person, but first impressions have told Erin she was weird and skeptical to trust. She stopped walking and was now in front of him, her eyes seemed to be scanning his face, reading him as if his emotions were worded on his face.

She held out a hand to him, "I'm Lindiwe, I've waited eagerly for your arrival." she said in a calm gentle tone that seemed to make Erin relax as he took her hand and shook it, "Erin, Erin Agubar.", "_Tell her she's hot."_ Chestnut whispered. Erin ended up ignoring the bickering his personalities now stormed up in his head from Chestnuts comment.

She spoke again, "You must have questions, but you have also traveled a long distance, you will rest for the remainder of the day and eat a proper meal, then we can talk later if your feeling up to it." she said a bit commanding despite the calm tone. Erin was relieved though, "Ooooh man you have no idea the shit I've been through. My feet hurt, I smell bad, my ass is sore from sleeping in a tree, and my hair… probably looks like shit." he said in a half laugh half cry tone, "Yeah I'm tired." he said with a smile. She gave a smile back, "Your an interesting one aren't you?" she asked happy to be getting to know her future student. Erin wiped the dirt from his face, "Well I believe to be a charming young man." he said being goofy as he pushed his hair back and smiled as if trying to woo her.

She smiled and shook her head before turning and walking toward a set of stone stairs leading up the mountain, "Come with me now, I can take you to my quarters." she said signaling for him to catch up with her. Chestnut laughed maniacally, "_DAMN ERIN! You already managed to get into her home! You know what that meeeeans."_ he said hinting at his inappropriate joke. Kore was fed up with him, "_Can it you you maniacal freak! No ones gonna get with you EVER!" _he screamed at him. Feliz was confused, "_Wait what did he mean by that?"_ he asked innocently, "_Feliz do not ruin your soul by indulging in that maniacs fanatics. Understand?"_ Hugo asked a bit serious, but got silence for a few seconds. "I think you broke him again Hugo." Erin mumbled trying to stifle a laugh.

Feliz spoke again, "_I… I don't like big words."_ he stated making Hugo die internally for a second. Kore side, "_*sigh* When she meets us she's probably going to abandon us honestly, and I wouldn't blame her." _he said in a voice that said he was done with everything. Erin stopped the negativity, "Hey Kore come on now, you guys are my best friends okay, if she doesn't like one of you then she won't be liked by the rest of us, period." Erin stated with pride, but he was whispering so Lindiwe didn't hear him.

Everyone was silent for a few seconds before Chestnut broke it, "_Erin and her are gonna smash Feliz."_ he said quickly which made Hugo and Kore erupt in shouting and some cursing while Erin shook his head to try and get rid of the creeping blush on his face. Feliz still didn't get it, "_Wait Erin, why are you going to hit her, we don't even know her yet and she seems nice." _he said in innocent confusion. "No no Feliz I'm not going to hit her just… just ignore Chestnut he's a moron." Erin whispered still a bit embarrassed. "_Actually he's been promoted from moron to SHIT HEAD!" _Kore growled in anger.

Lindiwe and Erin were only thirty seconds up the mountain before- "ERIN!" a familiar voice called out his name. Erin and Lindiwe turned around to see a group of nine beat up men and - "Chad!?" Lindiwe whispered in surprise as her eyes became orange saucers. "Erin do not go with her, come to me now." he said sternly, but Lindiwe put a hand on Erins chest and pushed him behind her as she shot a venomous glare at her ex. Chad sighed, "*sigh* Don't make me have to **take** him from you Lindiwe." he said starting to get pissed off. Lindiwe took out her weapon and unfolded it into its staff sickle form, for some reason the shaft of the weapon was bulky and had parts that resembled a gun, "Please try me, I'm not rusty like you may think I am!" she shouted bitterly.

Chad looked back at his men, "Stay here." he ordered as he made his way up to the mountain. Lindiwe knew what he was doing, "Stay here Erin." she said keeping a firm grip on her weapon and making her way back down the stairs to meet Chad face to face at the steps of her mountain.

Pink and orange eyes were drilling at each other like they were having a mental war with one another. There could have been a fire from the heat radiating from the tension. Both tried to search for a sign of weakness on the others face, but neither of them let up. She spoke first, "You should know he's a special boy, there is great potential in his future as a huntsman.", Chad responded sternly, "Yeah, I know of his condition, and he doesn't even know what he can do with it." Chad respond quietly so Erin nor his men could hear him.

Lindiwe smiled a bit, "Actually I witnessed first hand his semblance, when your village was attacked. He can do it, and he has four of them.". Chad widened his eyes in surprise, "You mean… he's a-", "Yes, he is. Which is why I wanted him here, he can help us greatly in this war, we should be lucky to have found him sooner, before… **SHE **could." Lindiwe interrupted him and put great emphasis on **SHE**.

Erin just watched them, trying to eavesdrop in on what they were saying, "What do you think their saying?" he asked. Feliz responded, _"Maybe they're talking about us?"_ Feliz answered. "Great guess Feliz…" Erin said sarcastically, "...I meant what about us." Erin stated. Feliz understood now, _"Oooooooh… I don't know."_.

Chad pondered on that information for a bit, "He's just a kid Lindiwe. You really can't just find another silver eyed warrior to help you?" Chad suggested which made Lindiwe flinch at the memory of her silver eyed friend she lost, "It's not something I'm entirely proud of, but a semblance like his is extremely rare and beneficial. Erin is probably the only one in Remnant with this semblance right now. There hasn't been a recorded semblance like this since years before the Great War, maybe even a century." she stated to Chad to get him to understand, but he still had doubt, "What if he dies, can you live with yourself knowing you caused it?" he said, trying to get his point to her. She sighed, "*sigh*, I won't let that happen. He will be under my protection and take on my training." she said sternly narrowing her eyes.

Chad's heated glare cooled and his face softened into in to a small smirk, "You always were good at training." he said trying to ease her. Instead Lindiwe's face hardened, her eyes gave a nasty death glare, and her grip on her weapon tightened. Chad acknowledge the signal and refrained from pressing on the subject of the past. Chad got serious again, "I hope you know what you're doing, but ask yourself… when he learns the real truth of what he's getting into… do you really think he'll continue to work with you?" he questioned rhetorically. Lindiwe just kept her same stone cold face, not even a flinch or attempt to answer him.

Chad scoffed as he looked past her and to Erin, "Alright Erin you get your wish." he said making Erin smile a bit, "But!" Chad continued, "I will be back, you won't know when, but it'll be to test you, and if you fail you **WILL **come back with, weather you like it or not." he said in a hard tone that made Erin swallow nervously. Erin really didn't want to fight Chad, but it seems he wouldn't have a choice, all he could do was be ready for an unpredictable fight.

With that Chad turned back and paced back to his beat up men, some had aura and healed their wounds while the others pushed through the pain. "Let's get back, we got work to do." he said assertively which made his men not question him, but grunt in dissatisfaction at coming all this way for nothing and nearly dying.

Lindiwe turned back to Erin and walked up to him with a scowl on her face that said she wasn't in the mood. Erin was hesitant to ask, "I-is everything… ok?" he asked not wanting to get chewed out before he even started training. Lindiwe continued walking up the steps with Erin in toe, "Everything is fine, and things will be better because Chad just made your training extra hard." she said in amusement which surprised Erin, but the part about harder training made him groan internally, "Awwwww Well… shit."

* * *

**And that's that for now, sorry it took so long to get typed but I have to put school first, but with the holidays I can hopefully get more out quicker. Thanks again for reading and please leave feed back!**


	5. Chapter 5

Personal Split

A RWBY fanfic story

By Donovan Ray Castillo

Chapter 5

It was a ten minute walk up the mountain that ended at two large old wooden doors with knockers on each door built into the mountain. Erin was about to collapse from his jelly legs wiggling so much to hold him and the pack up, but he dropped to a knee instead of face planting into rock and looked to see how far they were from the ground. "How often *pant* do you walk this damn *pant* thing!?" Erin kind of spat out though words from exhaustion.

Lindiwe however didn't even drop a sweat or show any sign of fatigue, "Come now, Erin. Let me take you to your room." she said calmly, she wrapped her fingers around the door handle. Erin stood up and almost fell down again, but caught himself. _"Easy does it." _Hugo commented, _"Yeah let's not make complete asses of our self's just yet."_ Kore stated.

Erin made his way over to the large doors, "My room? This some kind of hotel?" Erin asked as he stood in front of the doors, Lindiwe opened one. Erin felt warm air pour from inside the mountain, but upon entering Erin could tell that it was far from a hotel. Chestnut couldn't help but be in awe at the sight, _" Wooooow, I think we're gonna have fun here!" _he cooed, Feliz spoke next, _"There's so many."_ he admired.

Once the door was closed, the lanterns that hung throughout the room revealed that the room was in fact, a forge with tons of room for all the equipment to lay around, it was messy, but there were swords, hammers, shields, spears, you name it. A couple weapons Erin didn't even recognize as strolled in doing three sixties to view his surroundings as he walked around all the work equipment, anvils, tool racks, scrap metal, even large pots hung from the ceiling of the room.

Erin then noticed probably the mother of all axes mounted on the wall above the fire pit, it was long and had a huge blade that had curvy and sharp patterns that ended with two small points on the bottom sticking out slightly to the side, and three similar looking points protruding from the top, the middle being longer than any other sharp point on the blade. It looked pretty scary actually. _"I WANT IT I WANT IT I WANT IT I WANT IT!" _Chestnut cried out like a kid not getting a toy he wants at the store.

With Erin not paying attention, he slipped on something and was falling back, "OH SHI-!" he screamed, but Lindiwe caught his hand before he ate the ground. "Try to be more careful please, follow me." She said pulling him up and continued walking leaving Erin in an embarrassed state. If Kore could right now he would be slow clapping at the disaster he had to witness, _"Well this going great, can't wait to see what you got next." _he said sarcastically. Chestnut laughed quietly, _"Yeah Erin what are we __**DOING **__next? HAHAHA!" _he teased which got Kore annoyed again, _"Chestnut. Shut. UP!" _He growled, Feliz spoke next, _"Let's do the tour next!"_ Feliz bubbled.

"Agreed Feliz. Chestnut, Kore you two can fight and kiss all you want when your out of my head, sound good?" Erin whispered to himself, _"UP YOURS!" _Kore roared back, getting a few laughs. "You make all of these?" he asked her. She turned her head to look at him, "I do." she replied turning her head back as she continued walking.

Erin proceeded with Lindiwe to another door at the end of the room. When she opened it Erin saw a smooth carved out, stone hallway that split off into three other hallways, maroon carpet lined the floor with another maroon carpet in a circle shape placed where the hallway split off, and there were… lights? "Wait, you have power here?!" he asked surprised. Without looking at him, "Mhm." She hummed. The lights hung from the ceiling with wire running from each one, then to a switch. Hugo spoke, _"I seem to find myself liking this place better than our village."_ he said truthfully, Feliz popped with excitement, _"I know right! And we've just started the tour!"_ he exclaimed.

She began walking through the hallway to the door to the left as Erin followed in step with her looking around the dull grey stoned hallway, "You should really put a picture up somewhere, you know, really give it some color." he said trying to kill the awkward silence. "I'll keep it in mind." she said simply making the silence return. Feliz spoke, _"I don't think she likes us."_ he said a bit sad, Kore even had to admit he was curious, _"The hell did Chad say to her?" _he said.

Lindiwe opened the door and flipped a switch that turned the lights on to reveal a room with more color, such as hanging pictures, plants, a few neon lights, the walls made of a light brown polished wood as well as the floor that made Erin almost forget he was in a mountain, and the ceiling lights seemed to give a more pleasant vibe rather than the light's from the hallway. The room was divided by the walk way they were on, to their left was what appeared to be half a living room with a couch, reclining chair, coffee table, and a T.V..

The other half was bar area with an assortment of colored bottles, a pool table, and a jukebox. And to their right was a smaller area with a small couch and a couple of chairs against the walls with eight other doors aligned along the wall like you'd see at a hotel. "This is the living room." She said pointing at the bottom left half of the room, "That's the kitchen and bar area." She said pointing at the top left bar area, "Keep out of the alcohol." she said a bit sternly. _"I know what we're doing tonight!"_ Chestnut cheered, _"Hush you fool!" _Hugo shushed. "_WOW! Would you just look at this place! It's beautiful and looks like fun!" _Feliz said in astonishment. She then stepped down the walkway that was connected by three steps of stairs to the right of the room as she began walking to one of the doors.

Erin was just as dumbfounded as he stared at the room with an open mouth until Kore snapped him out, "_Erin? She's walking away now."_ he said, like it was obvious. Erin quickly made his way to Lindiwe, not even stepping down the tiny set of stairs, rather he just took a small leap down, "Did you really build all of this… like… **ALL**, of this!" he exclaimed motioning to the room with his hands. she looked at him before opening one of the doors, "For the most part, yes." she said flipping a switch that lit the whole room with white light, "This is where you will be staying." Lindiwe said as she motioned him to enter.

Erin entered the windowless room and looked around. The walls on the sides of the rooms were lined with empty long shelves, the walls and floor were the same wood as the last room, a single sized bed rested in the corner with a lamp and dark brown dresser right next to it. "This is exactly like a hotel! But wait, no bathroom?" he asked noticing there was no bathroom, but rather a closet to hang clothes. "Restrooms are located somewhere else, now drop your stuff off and let's continue." she said calmly. while trying to push through the tour quickly. Erin dropped his stuff off and continued to follow her. Hugo wondered, "_Why is she so eager to get through the tour?" _he asked which Feliz responded, "_Maybe she wants to get our training started." _he suggested positivilly, but Kore didn't see the sense in that, "_What? But we're supposed to be resting." _he said, like it was obvious

Erin was wondering the same thing, Chad must have said something to really upset her, or really startled her and she was just trying to hide it. He wouldn't ask about it now, but maybe later. They continued back on the walkway to proceed past the bar and towards another door. "How did you manage this, I mean this must have taken a loooong time to build, is it your semblance to build whatever you want!?" he guessed by a long shot, but she didn't respond until they reached the door. _"Maybe just not ask anything else for the rest of the trip, ok?" _Kore said to put an end to Erin's ridiculous efforts to make conversation.

She opened the door and walked in the dark room, then opened a grey metal box to their right that hung on the wall. She flipped several switches to illuminate probably the largest room he's been to so far. The lights buzzed to life one by one to reveal each section of the area. The room stretched to probably the size of a football field, if not a little smaller. The room was walled with white metal and the large lights were built in the ceiling. Five different sections were on each side of the room divided by glass walls and doors.

Erin stepped in with eyes the size of dinner plates and only a squeak of air escaped his open mouth. Kore spoke first, _"Ok, this is actually pretty badass." _he admitted. _"Is that a dojo!? LOOK AT ALL THE SWORDS!" _Chestnut shouted, but Kore was focused on something else, _"Check out the weight room, they got punching bags!" _he said in what sounded like actual excitement, but everyone was too amazed to acknowledge it. Hugo was astonished too, _"So many options to enhance one's fighting capabilities." _he stated, Feliz caught interest in something, _"Coooool! Look at a shooting range! You know what that means?" _he asked in excitement, _"GUNS!" _Chestnut shouted psychotically. _"I would recommend we keep him away from guns."_ Hugo stated in concern, _"Oh come on Hugo don't be such a buzz kill." _Chestnut replied.

"This is the training room," she explained, "You have a dojo, some gym rooms like weightlifting and endurance building, you got a clinic if you get hurt, a fighting simulator for solo training, a wrestling mat, and a shooting range." she explained pointing at each individual sector, "And in the back…" she stopped to point at a door in the far back and looked at Erin, "Is the shower and restroom." she said to answer his question from earlier. Erin forced himself out of his trance to acknowledge Lindiwe, "Wha- oh ugh, heuuuu that's good to know. As long as I don't have to pop a squat in a corner." he said giving a nervous chuckle. She stared at him for a bit before giving a slight smile as she began flipping the switches to off, and one by one the lights die off until the room was engulfed in darkness, "Come along." she motioned for him to follow.

Feliz was happy to get some amusement from her, _"WE GOT A SMILE! Success!" _he whispered that last part in triumph. Erin to was happy at that as he followed her back the way they came until they were back at the three doors, only this time they went through the door to the far right. She flipped a switch to shed light on the room to reveal a rounded classroom that resembled that from an academy.

_"Awwwww, goddammit classes, are you for real!" _he complained, making it seem like the end of the world, but Hugo had an opposite reaction, _"Oooooo, think of all the knowledge we'll obtain in our time here." _he said enthusiastically. Chestnut didn't like the sound of that, _"Boooo you suck!" _he exclaimed as Kore spoke, _"I don't want to think about it because I don't care about classes."_ he replied as if he were in actual pain.

Erin followed Lindiwe down the stairs to the stage where the teacher would be. "This is where you will come annually for classes. I will test you on your knowledge of every subject you'll need to know to be a huntsman to the best of my ability." she said as she made her way right of the stage to another door. _" So many doooooors!" _Kore complained, _"Hush you fool." _Hugo said, _"Don't tell me to hush…... bitch."_ Kore finished bitterly.

Once again Lindiwe turned on the lights to unfold a robotics lab with computers and a mechanics work bench. "Good lord how much stuff are you going to teach us!" he asked with surprise at all the technology around him. She turned around to look at him, "Everything." She said with a smirk, "Now, one more destination before you rest. And turn the light off." she said walking past him back to the classroom. Erin took one more glance back in the robotics room. If Hugo could right now, he'd be drooling, _"I'm in heaven." _he slurred.

* * *

Now they were at the middle door, Chestnut and Feliz were eager to see what else this mountain has to offer _"Open it! Open it! Open it!"_ they chanted which annoyed Kore quickly, _"Shut. The hell. Up!" _he growled violently. When Lindiwe opened the door, Erin's grin dropped to a frown as they stared down another stone cut hallway like the one they were in. Kore only said one word, _"Lame." _He said bluntly, Feliz stayed positive, _"Maybe there's something at the end of it!" _he said happily for Kore to respond to, _"You mean besides the other door?"_ he said. Chestnut had a thought, _"Maybe it's a room of women! Hehehe!"_ he laughed, _"Your a fool." _Hugo replied.

Erin was in toe with Lindiwe walking down the lit hallway, "Seriously, these hallways are uuuuuugly, I might just take it upon myself to redecorate." Erin rambled, "Also, this place has a strange layout, if you didn't build it then who did?" he asked. Lindiwe, without facing him, narrowed her eyes, "Don't worry about it." she said with some stern, making Erin flinch a bit. Chestnut jokes, _"Ooooo, seems like we pinched a nerve, PINCH HARDER!"_ he shouted. _"Do. Not."_ Hugo stated.

As they got closer to the door, Erin noticed it was rimmed by light from the other side. _"Women! Women!" _Chestnut chanted, only for Kore to stop him, _"Dude, you're really just being annoying now. Like there's a tolerance of annoying I have for you, and then there's a point where I wanna beat your skull in."_ he explained harshly. _"Kore that was a bit much, just let Chestnut dream if he wants to." _Feliz stated, but Kore seemed to use what Feliz said to support his point, _"See even Feliz doesn't believe you."_. _"Focus up you damn fools!" _Hugo snapped at them, but Kore had to get the last word, _"Bitch."_.

Lindiwe stopped at the door and looked back at Erin, "I think your going to like this one very much." she said with a smile as she opened the door. The sudden light in his face caused Erin to shield his face as he walked out into what felt like ray's of warm sun and the cool shallow breeze. Once Erin's eyes began adjusting he lowered his hands to reveal the most beautiful patch of forrest he'd ever seen. The way the sun shot its ray's at the forest seemed to make it glow a vibrant green, but it wasn't just that. The sun shimmered off the ripples of blue water from the stream that flowed deep into the green abyss. In the distance the forest turned from green to blood red, "Is that a Foreverfall Forest!" Erin asked in surprise as he blocked the sun to get a better look, Lindiwe just hummed and nodded in response.

Their mountain seemed to wall off this forest from the rest of the outside, as if the mountain had arms and was hugging around the area that stretched pretty far. There was another mountain in the distance with some snow on its peak that towered higher into the sky than Lindiwe's mountain. The sight was breathtaking and gorgeous, it was a paradise. Feliz was all so blown out the water by the sight, _"Woooooow" _he said in awe. Lindiwe stretched her arms out to the forest, "This… is Tlaloc. Here life will flourish beautifully, yet it will be your greatest enemy if you underestimate it." she said and she sat crisscross on the rocky mountain cliff and straightened herself up. Erin walked over next to her and looked over the steep slope that dropped to the said forest and backed up after seeing the height.

Erin was a bit confused, "What does nature have to do with being a huntsmen though? Besides survival skills." Erin asked. Lindiwe had her back facing toward him as she closed her eyes, "Being a huntsmen is more than just twirling a weapon around to kill monsters. A huntsmen's greatest weapon is their semblance, which comes from their aura." she explained as she showed off her bright orange aura. Erin was intrigued, "So then… how do I strengthen my aura, by sitting in a forest and meditate?" he asked sarcastically.

Lindiwe knew getting through to him would not be easy, "Our aura is an energy generated from the soul. Focus on it, tap into that energy and sense it in your heart, let it flow through your veins, feel it in your muscles. In fact, aura is much like a muscle, it gives you strength, and if you use all that energy too quickly, you'll tire it out. Leaving yourself weakened and open to be killed." she said that last part more serious which made Erin swallow hard. She stood up still facing away from Erin, "But, if you work it correctly, if you exercise your aura constantly to its limits and push further, without getting killed-" as fast as light, Lindiwe hurled her weapon up as it unfolded itself mid air.

She jumped to catch it, and as she landed on her feet she twirled it behind her back, the blade sang as it sliced through the air, and continued so as Lindiwe spun it above her head until she slammed the blunt part of the staff into the ground, causing Erin to step back in surprise. "-then you will toughen your souls power, and there for, your aura." she finished, but she wasn't done yet, "Aura is also linked with your emotions. Let your feelings fuel your aura, but never let them control it,-" she then began walking backwards towards the edge of the cliff, which Erin began to grow concerned about as he was about to say something, "-do not let fear guide your decisions, for your heart is the compass that will always point you in the right direction-" she cut herself off as she walked back off the cliff, leaving a very stunned Erin. Chestnut spoke first, _"That's hot."_. Hugo just ignored that, _"Weeee... should check on her."_ he said.

Erin, still stunned, slowly nodded before taking a couple steps toward the cliff when the sickle part of Lindiwe's weapon flew up and bit down firmly into the stone. Erin stared for a second before jogging to the cliff and crept his head over to see Lindiwe hanging by a cable as she held to her weapon with her feet planted into the steep mountain side. She then pushed a button on the shaft of her weapon with her thumb which caused her to repel up as she ran up along the mountain side. _"Wow… she's good at that." _Feliz said.

As she got closer, Hugo grew concerned, _"Ugh, you might want to move." _He suggested. "Oh crap!" Erin shouted as he jumped back on his rear in time for Lindiwe to launch herself into the air. Her cloak flapped behind her like a Cape as her form lined perfectly with the sun to cast a large shadow onto Erin that made him and his personalities stare in amazement. Lindiwe used her cloak to glide towards Erin until she did a forward role and landed behind him. Erin looked back to find Lindiwe pointing her weapon in his face just in front of his nose, "- and never forget what you desire most in your life. That is how you build a strong aura." she collapsed her weapon and put it back behind her and stuck out her hand towards Erin, "So are you willing to go through whatever I throw at you to get stronger?" she said looking at him dead set in the eyes.

Erin started at the hand and up at Lindiwe before taking it, "Hell yeah." he with determination as she hoisted him up. Erin brushed himself off and straightened himself to look ready, "So, what's first!" he spoke with anticipation

* * *

Erin was now in his dark room "resting" until tomorrow. "This should be fun huh guys?" he asked, breaking the silence. Chestnut spoke first, _"Oh yeah, I think she's gonna be tons of fun!" _he said in a tone that made Erin cringe, _"Well ignoring that ass wagon, I think you better not disappoint us… no pressure." _Kore said casually. "Gee, thanks Kore, I can really feel the encouragement in your words." he replied in fake emotion. Feliz spoke next, _"That's just Kore's way of saying good luck, and I think you'll do great! Don't let the nerves get the best of ya." _he said with encouragement, _"And stay focused, don't lose sight of the task at hand." _Hugo advised. _"Yes don't lose focus on her chest, LET IT DRIVE YOU! HAHAHA!"_ Chestnut cackled in amusement. Hugo sighed, _"*sigh* That's definitely not the focus I meant."_ he said in irritation. "Yeah sooooo, Chestnut is going to have to stay away from Lindiwe, that way he doesn't get killed on his first day of being out and about." Erin clarified

But Kore thought otherwise, _"I say Chestnut should go for it, I think he's got a shot." _his sarcasm didn't go unnoticed, but Chestnut had a different plan, _"It's cool, I'll just have Feliz talk to her for me. Hehehe!" _he giggled devilishly. Feliz was confused, "Wait, what would I say?" he asked innocently, but Erin quickly spoke against that, " No, no, no, Feliz don't do anything Chestnut asks you to do. If you value your life. Don't. Listen. To him." he stated. Hugo spoke next, _"Remember Feliz, Chestnuts a fool."_ he stated, _"Wait I thought Chestnut was a moron?" _Feliz questioned which Kore replied, _"No he got promoted to shit head a while ago, remember?" _Kore asked, _"Oh yeah!" _Feliz voice popped as he remembered.

Chestnut only laughed at the conversation, _"Hahahahehe! And I thought I was a bad influence on him, but you guys seem to know what your doing." _he said hinting that they were teaching him bad thoughts for him. Hugo now realizing their mistake felt a bit disappointed in himself, _"We have fallen for the mad man's deceivance, we've failed… for now." _he said in a slightly scary voice. Erin just shook his head and laughed, "Were going to be the most difficult team to deal with on Remnant." he said with amusement. Each of his personalities agreed with him, then Chestnut tried to be innocent, _"I'll try to be on my best behavior."_ he said sincere, but Kore wasn't buying it, _"Oh buuuullshit!" _Kore shouted, making Erin clutch his stomach in laughter, "Ok, ok that's enough, let me nap now." Erin said as he shuffled a bit to get comfortable before closing his eyes to catch some Z's.

As Erin was about to drift off, he suddenly heard laughter. Erin sat up in his bed and furrowed his brow as he looked at his door that was rimmed with an orange glow, it wasn't just anyone's laughter, "Yana." Erin whispered. Erin launched himself off the bed and towards the door, he pretty much bulled through the door to find himself in his village that was flooding in a pool of flames. He was on the stone path once again where it all happened, only this time Yana was on her knees facing away from him.

Her once bright hair was dirtied with blood and soot, her tank top and pajama pants were tattered and covered in blood. Yana chuckled again as her shoulders buckled with laughter. Erin backed up, "Oh nonononono." he said as he turned around and walked right in to a wall, Erin placed his hand where the door should be, "Damnit!" he cursed balling his fist. "Hehehehehahahaha!" Yana laughed in amusement as Erin turned to face her again, he really didn't want to have to do this, but he didn't see any other way out of this, "Okay, here we go." he gave a long exhale.

Erin took a couple a shaky steps to the giggling Yana and slowly reached his hand to her shoulder, "Yana?" but the second his fingers grazed her skin Yana's head wiped around violently and gave an ear piercing screech, causing Erin to yelp and fall back in fright. Yana's pale face was covered in gashes and veins, blood poured from her mouth which decorated her chin as her tongue hung from lips, "HLE HLE HLE HLA HLA HLA!" her laughs gurgled with gushing blood. Her eyes no longer showed love or care, but rather they showed a burning passion for death and revenge. She began to walk limply towards Erin as he crawled back, "YANA STOP! GET BACK!" he cried out, but that only made her chuckle harder as she lingered closer, blood and saliva dripped from her tongue, "LLLLAAAAAAALLLOOOOO!" she howled.

Erins back was up against the walls now as he brought his hands up. Yanas smile soon turned into a scowl and her cackling into spity snarls. Her eyes began to shed tears of blood that ran down her cheeks. She showed off her sharp, blood stained nails, "You…" she spat out with blood, "... didn't save **ME!**" she roared monsterly as she lunged at Erin. Erin shut his eyes and covered his face, but the stinging feeling of scratching never came.

Erin opened his eyes and lowered his arms to see he was no longer in the village, he was surrounded by grass in front of a pile of dirt. Erin then noticed a tombstone in that marked the pile of dirt that read, **MATTHEW AGABAR**.

"_**You killed him." **_the same voice from before whispered to him.

"N-no! I-" before Erin could finish, a grey hand shot from the pile of dirt, "OH SHIT!" Erin screamed as he flailed back, the hand was cut up and seemed decade, another hand shot up that looked just as bad. both hands began pushing down on the ground, and the corpse of Uncle Matt arose from the grave, his mouth spat out dirt and his pale face had skin hanging from his rotting flesh, "**EEEERIN!" **he groaned as he began crawling out of the dirt towards Erin. Uncle Matt's white, ghost eyes stared deep into Erin's soul. Erin pulled himself out of shock to crawl back, "AAAAHHHH! GET BACK, GET BACK!" he screamed in fear. Uncle Matt continued to dig his fingers into the ground which caked his nails with dirt, "**You killed me! YOU KILLED ME!"** he snarled as his crawling grew faster.

Erin quickly stood up and ran into that blackness that surrounded them, "No… it wasn't my fault, it wasn't my fault!" he repeated to himself. Erin stopped running and looked around to see black fog surrounding him now. Erin looked around for a way out, but he started hearing voices in his head.

_**"Killer!" **_

_**"Failure!"**_

_**"Worthless!" **_

_**"Killer!"**_

_**"You abandoned your friends!"**_

Erin clutched his head, "Stop it!" he shouted as his breathing became heavy, but the voices continued to mock him, "STOP!" he howled, and the voices stopped.

The fog began to twirl around him and grow higher like a tornado, the fog suddenly began morphing into the body of a snake swirling around him. Erin looked up to see the head of a huge cobra looking down on him from its coiled body, "What- who are you? WHAT DO YOU WANT FROM ME!" Erin roared at the cobra.

The cobra hissed as its tongue wiggled and fangs drawn. It glared at Erin with sharp, poisonous eyes before it spoke.

_**"I…**_

.

.

.

.

_**"...want…"**_

.

.

.

.

_**"...to be…"**_

.

.

.

.

_**"FREEEEEEE!"**_

The cobra hissed with venom as it dived its head towards Erin with an open mouth.

Erin could only watch his vision go black in the cobras mouth before he felt a stinging pain on his cheek.

* * *

***SMACK!***, "AAAAHHHHH!" Erin cried out in fear and pain, he quickly used his aura to get rid of the pain as he quickly sat up in his bed and looked around. He continued to breathe heavily, like he had been underwater for a while, his face was grabbed and forced to look into orange eyes. Lindiwe was holding Erin's face and trying to calm him down, "Erin stop! Look at me, calm, down." she spoke softly as she rubbed his hair. Erin quit struggling and stared back into her eyes, his breathing slowed down, "_In through the nose, and out through the mouth." _Hugo instructed. Lindiwe let go of Erin and gave him some space, "Wha- what happened?" Erin asked, wiping some of the sweat from his face. Feliz spoke first, "_We got slapped… and it hurt."_ he said casually like it was nothing new. Kore spoke next, "_Stupid bitch."_ he mumbled bitterly. "_You know I actually kind of liked it!" _Chestnut exclaimed.

Everyone went silent after that comment, but Erin just ignored them, "Why did you slap me?" he asked. Lindiwe turned on the lights making Erin rub his eyes at the sudden brightness, "You were talking in your sleep, very loudly." she said calmly. Erin looked back at her, "What did I say?" he asked. Lindiwe looked at the ground for a split second before looking back at him, "It wasn't… my fault?" she said questioningly. Being remembered of his nightmare made Erins skin crawl as he felt his blood chill to ice.

Erin stood from his bed and walked past Lindiwe and to the bar area. He hopped into one of the stools and rested his head on the counter. Feliz being concerned, "_Erin, what happened? Did you have a bad dream?" _he asked nicely, "I don't want to talk about it." Erin groaned into his arms. Lindiwe walked behind the bar while looking at Erin until she scavenged through the drawers for two glasses and took a bottled water from the fridge. The glasses clinked as she placed them on the counter next to Erin and poured them each a glass. She slid his glass to his already open palm without him looking as it gracefully fit like a puzzle piece, "How long was I asleep?" he asked as he groggily raised his head and downed the water, "_Ew, water, WHERE'S THE GOOD STUFF!." _Chestnut whined. "Eight hours." she replied sipping from her glass. Erin groaned putting his head back into his arms, "Doesn't feel like it." he croaked.

Lindiwe took another sip from her glass, "Well I was going to let you ask questions, buuut if your too tired-" she started but was cut off by Erin, "Whatdoyouknowaboutmysemblance? Whyisitsupperrare? HowdoyouknowChad? Didyoutwodate? Whydoyouguyshateeachother? Andwhydoyouliveinamountain?" Erin shot question after question like bullets that seemed to zip past Lindiwe's ears, "_Erin, restrain yourself and deliver your words slowly." _Hugo stated. Lindiwe stared at him for a few seconds, "I don't know much about your semblance. It's rare because it hasn't been seen in probably over a hundred years. Things between me and Chad is none of your business. And this place is special to me, so I live in it." she finished taking a sip from her glass.

Chestnut spoke first, "_They totally dated." _he said, "_Definitely." _Kore agreed. "_I wonder what happened happened?" _Feliz asked to no one specific. Erin nodded his head slowly hiding a small smirk, "So… something did happen between you two.", "Erin." Lindiwe's face hardened as she sent daggers at him. "Alright alright alright. Why is my semblance so rare?" Erin finished teasing.

Lindiwe swirled the water in her glass, "Your semblance, is unique in a way that stands out from how semblances usually are." she tried to explained. "_That doesn't make sense." _Hugo commented. Erin was also confused, "What does that mean?" Erin asked. Lindiwe looked around the room like answers were floating around her head, "Ok well, you know how everyone's semblance is suppose to be a power based on the personality of ones soul and aura?" she asked trying to make more sense of it, "Yeah." Erin replied. "Your semblance is the same yet different, your personality is split up into your personalities, which somehow ties into what your semblance is. Back then they were called, Split Walkers." she finished.

Erin just stared at her for a few seconds while Kore spoke his mind, _"Split Walkers? That sounds dumb." _he stated. Feliz tried to act positive, _"Oh come on, it's not that… bad, maybe it'll grow on us." _he said desperately trying to put hope in the name. Hugo spoke next, _"I'm fairly certain that Chestnut could select a better name than that"_, _"MIND BREAKERS!" _Chestnut shouted, _"Nevermind." _Hugo finished. "What kind of name is that?" Erin asked like he was offended. "What's wrong with it?" Lindiwe asked, slightly furrowing her brow. Erin scoffed and shook his head slightly as he took a sip of water, "It just doesn't sound as intimidating as I thought it would, you know, like a name for a warrior has to sound strong." Erin explained himself.

Lindiwe rolled her eyes, "Split Walkers are being that walk the Earth and are able to split themselves, but thats all I really know." she concluded. "What! That's all you know, I thought I was going to get some answers." Erin said a little frustrated.

Lindiwe shook her head, "I told you, your semblance is decades old. Any information on it is either lost or destroyed, what I do know is that you have an extinct ability that is known to only a few people on Remnant, so basically you should be filling the answers to the questions I have." she shot back smugly. Kore groaned, "_Greeeeeat. So how are we gonna get free now."_. Feliz replied, "_We belieeeeeeve." _Feliz sparkled. Kore wasn't in the mood, "_I'm being serious Feliz!"_ he raised his voice, but Hugo intervened, "_Kore, Feliz is actually right."_ he quickly said, "_I AM!"_ Feliz popped. Hugo continued, "_We need to continue to trust Lindiwe, believe in her and follow her training, that is how we're going to be free. That is how we will be huntsmen."_ he finished with determination. Chestnut cheered, "_WOOOOOO! Alright! Yeah!"_

Erin continued to ponder for a new question while his personalities talked about what would happen next, so he decided to ask, "What are you going to do with me? I don't know how to use my semblance, so what's the first step in my training." he asked trying to dig for answers. Lindiwe finished her glass, "We start at dawn… so get a little more rest, you have five hours left." and with that she grabbed both of their glasses and put them in the sink. Erin rolled his eyes and started for his room. "Erin." Lindiwe called causing Erin to do a one eighty. "Are you doing ok?" she asked. Erin thought on telling her the truth or not, "I'm fine, just a little homesick." he said before retreating back into his room.

After what he saw in his dream he did not fall back asleep.

* * *

Chad furiously stomped through the forest with his men in toe. His pink eyes were glowing, mohawk was drooping, and he might as well have cracked the ground with how hard he was stopping. Erin had no idea what he was getting himself into and Lindiwe seemed to not care about putting Erin in that danger. But he couldn't mention anything without risking the truth getting out to his men or Erin. Chad had to try and stop Erin without revealing to him about the secret war in Remnant, so he would do what Lindiwe was doing.

Train his own group to fight back, and if they beat Erin then he would have to come back with him, no questions asked. Chad could hear his men whispering amongst themselves about what had happened or complained about the trip, but Chad ignored them and continued to think. Why is she so committed all of a sudden to get back into this fight, BECAUSE OF THE KIDS SEMBLANCE?! She already tried to fight back against the Queen of Grimm, and that failure cost her friends life which only ruined her even more. If Erin died under her wing it would have drastic effects for the rest of her life.

Chad knew well aware of the kids condition, but he hadn't known about the semblance part, and he didn't even know much on the kind of semblance people like Erin had. Lindiwe was hiding something from Chad as well, he could feel it, but didn't press on it because his focus was getting Erin out of her reach. He loved the kid, which was why he was doing this, hoping not to bury him next to his Uncle at such a young age.

Chad wished he could get back at Ozpin for telling Lindiwe these secrets, for ruining his team, for ruining his future career, and for ruining his love. The thought of the past made Chade fume more and clench his jaw harder. With all the bullshit going on in the world, he hoped that he could at least escape it by being in this village, but it managed to find its way back to him. Now he was being forced to put himself back into the drama of it, by dealing with his ex's actions.

Chad slapped a branch out of his way, but it ended up smacking himbacked in the face. Chad grabbed the branch and in a flash, ripped it from the tree with a growel, ***SNAP!***, causing his men to stop in their tracks and stare at him. Chad panted out of anger while he shot daggers at his men, "Let's keep moving." he said turning around. They would have to stop for the night, but Chad wanted to cover as much ground as he could. "**RRRRAAAAWWWW!"** a roar volcanic like roar erupted, turning the heads of Chad and his men to see a large, angry Ursa salivate as it scanned over its dinner. Woods took the first shot which caused a chain reaction of sparking bullets to fly at the Ursa causing it to roar in pain, "**RRRRAAAAWWWW!"** it boomed as it charged at them. Chads men began to grow fearful as the Ursa didn't stop charging, suddenly a bright beam of molten hot pink light shot past them and went through the Ursa, killing it instantly into dust.

Chad began to sweat a bit, steam sizzled from his angry eyes. "Nice shot." one of the guys said. "**AROOOOOOOO!"** a howl echoed through the night which seemed to create more howls from every direction making everyone raise their weapons. Chad could feel himself getting more heated as his anger began to build up once again, he really did not want to have to waste time dealing with Grimm. One by one the Beowulfs began appearing around them in the dozens. Everyone checked their weapons and readied themselves for a fight while Chad rubbed his burning eyes. Woods noticed this and widened his eyes in realization, "GET DOWN!" he yelled to everyone, which they did out of instinct in time to dodge a heated blast of pink energy from Chad. "RAAAAAHHHH!" Chad screamed as he did a three-sixty, slicing through every Grimm, tree, and rock around them. The trees gave a whinny creak as they dropped to the ground making noises that resembled palm-palms.

Chads eyes dulled back to regular pink as he hunched over his knees and panted, his semblance always took a bit out of him once he had relaxed enough to feel the fatigue catch up to him. Chads head suddenly perked up, and he jumped into a backflip in time to dodge the snapping teeth of a Beowulf, as Chad was in mid air he drew his dual pistols and unloaded all his lead into the monster.

Chad landed in a crouch position facing away from the monster, he didn't need to turn around to know he killed it as he heard the particles of ash drift from its body. Chad stood up, reloaded, and holstered his pistols, "Let's find a place to rest for the night. Everyone looked at each other before following close behind their leader.

Chad had much to think about tonight.

* * *

Erin was chatting with his personalities, not wanting to fall asleep again. Chad and Lindiwe had a past together, but the details were a blur. They didn't like each other now, but what about when they did? What went wrong between them? _"So many questions, so little time"_ Chestnut said being dramatic, _"Time till what? Are you being a dipshit again? Wait nevermind, your always a dipshit"_ Kore went on, but before anyone could respond to him the door opened and the light was turned on. Erin sat up to get a face full of something that smelled like leather. Lindiwe stood at the door frame in her cloak, "Put that on and meet me outside in Tlaloc, you have ten minutes." she said closing the door.

Chestnut spoke, "_We should teach her respect." _he said sinisterly, "_That would result in death."_ Hugo pointed out. Feliz responded, "_Also so she's the one that's suppose to be teaching us, so yeah." _he replied innocently. "_No Feliz, Chestnuts just being an idiot, just ignore him."_ Kore explained but continued, "_Chestnut, what the hell would you do to teach her anything that wouldn't end up in your ass getting kicked?"_ he finished. Chestnut hummed in thought for a second, "_Probably nothing really, but it's better in my head. Hehehe." _he snickered to himself.

Erin rubbed his eyes, "That's disgusting Chestnut." Erin said with a yawn as he stretched, but Feliz didn't get it, "_What's that mean?"_ he asked which resulted in everyone but Chestnut to yell "**NOTHING!"** at Feliz.

Erin examined the outfit that Lindiwe had tossed at him, well more like she chucked it at his face, but that wasn't the point. Erin held it by the shoulders to let the outfit hang out to let Erin eyeball it up and down. It was a black spandex bodysuit hence for the head, hands and feet; there was brown leather padding all over the suit as well. A leather chestplate, arm guards, shin guards, shoulder guards; he was basically a knight in grimmy leather armor. Once he got himself into the suit he moved around a bit to get a feel for it, "Pretty nice actually huh guys?" he commented. Kore replied first, "_Beats the shitty clothes we were wearing." _he replied. "_While I would have worded it differently, yes, our old clothes were no longer suitable to wear_ _and are in desperate need of wash."_ Hugo stated. Erin hummed in agreement as he threw his old crappy clothes in the closet for a later wash.

He looked at the door to notice a pair of brown leather boots, and fingerless gloves. Feliz saw this as a gift, "_Aaawwww, how thoughtful!" _he exclaimed. Erin made quick work of equipping them and ran out the door to meet with Lindiwe.

Erin was back at the cliff as the sun crept it's way over the mountain range, emitting an orange yellow light that set the sky on fire and turned the clouds into gold. He could hear the forest come to life from the singing birds and the hundreds of chatting locust in the trees.

Erin made his way down the dirt trail that led down to the grassy clearing just outside the forest. There was a lake with three small waterfalls leading into it that gave fuel to the ongoing stream through the forest. The dragon flies zipped through the air like BB's, landing on the reeds that swayed in the breeze. Lily pads dotted across the lake surface as frogs torpedoed through the water causing ripples. But it was Lindiwe sitting legs crossed in front of said lake that brought Erin over to it.

When Erin stepped over next to her, he noticed she seemed to be in a deep meditation. Her eyes were closed, yet they seemed so consecrated. _"Soooo…" _Kore started, _"...what do we do?" _he asked. Hugo replied, _"Nothing, we wait patiently for her to finish. Meditation is not something to be disturbed." _he said as though he was studying her form of concentration.

Erin took notice at how peaceful and relaxed she looked. Her posture was straight and her shoulders slacked as her hands lay comfortably on her knees. Her chest rose and fell with every breath she drew. The dragon flies flew around her, some landing on her braids, but Lindiwe didn't flinch or even swat them away. Her orange aura began to slightly glow around her form, giving her a beautiful appearance as it even drew the attention of some of the fish in the lake. Even the dragon flies seemed interested in the light.

Chestnut had to ruin the moment though, _"Oooooh BABY!" _he howled like a dog in heat. _"You think Lindiwe would let me use Chestnut for target practice, I'd be doing Remnant a favor." _Kore started dryly.

Erin cleared his throat, "Umm, I'm not sure if I was late or not. There's not really a clock inside or anything." he said hesitantly.

Lindiwe fluttered her eyes open, but did not look at Erin. Instead, she patted the soft grass next to her. Erin got the message and sat next to her in silence, "_I'm learning… so much right now." _Kore said sarcastically. Lindiwe finally spoke, "Look at your reflection in the water, tell me what you see." she said calmly.

Erin raised an eyebrow, but did it anyway, he leaned over to see his reflection and only that. "_Maybe she's being cryptic?" _Hugo suggested, making Kore groan, "_Criptic shit is dumb. Like just say what you want to say." _Kore ranted. Feliz thought otherwise, "_I like puzzles!" _he exclaimed, "_You mean your interest in those children puzzles with large pieces. I would hardly count that as a puzzle." _Hugo stated. "_But I'm using my brain." _Feliz defended, but Chestnut intervened, "_Their not interesting though! There's no excitement or challenge at all! BOOOOORING!" _Chestnut finished which surprised Hugo, "_Wow Chestnut, we can actually agree on something besides ice-cream for once, th-tha… thhhhhanks! Ew that felt horrendous to say!"_ Hugo commented. "_I still think pistachio is a crap ass flavor."_ Kore mentioned.

Erin continued to study his reflection while his personalities were talking about ice-cream or some weird crap now. Erin furrowed his brow and shook his head, "I just see me." Erin said looking up at her. Lindiwe nodded her head and gave a slight hum as if she was expecting his answer, "Tell me, are you able to activate your semblance again?" she asked. Erin shuffled awkwardly and looked at his lap, "I ugh, I-I only did it once, and I'm not sure how to do it again, but it hurt a lot, and I mean a lot when I did it the first time." Erin explained.

Lindiwe held her chin in thought for a couple seconds before standing, "Follow." she ordered. _"Ooooo, a take charge women, I LIKE IT!" _Chestnut exclaimed in excitement, only to get chewed out by Kore, _"Imma laugh my ASS off till I can't see straight when she beats the shit out of you." _he said with anticipation.

Erin and Lindiwe move away from the lake so Erin could have some space, "I want you to try and use your semblance." she said simply. Erin drew in a sharp breath and widened his eyes a smidge, "N-now, but I can't we haven't even trained or anything!" Erin panicked a bit. Hugo tried to ease him, _"Erin Erin relax, breathe." _he spoke calmly.

"Erin…" Lindiwe started, "do you know how I unlocked my semblance?" she asked already knowing the answer. Erin shook his head in confusion, "N-no." he replied. Lindiwe paced around him, not breaking eye contact, "I wasn't afraid. I wasn't afraid to look fear in the face and take control of it, instead of letting it control me. If you continue to let doubt and fear cloud your mind, you'll never find your semblance." she spoke with heart filled passion and from experience.

Erin stood there for a moment, his gaze shifted from her to the ground. Feliz liked the speech, _"That was lovely." _he cooed. Hugo spoke next, _"Such wismatic words." _he awed. _"Yall are a bunch of ass kissers." _Kore stated, but Chestnut had a comeback, _"Oh I'd do more than just that Kore."_ Chestnut purred.

Erin tried to shut out the arguing taking place in his head but couldn't, "Guys be quiet." Erin whispered. Erin shut his eyes to concentrate, trying to find some switch to flip his semblance on. His personalities gave silent words of encouragement, but stopped so Erin could concentrate. His brown aura began to shimmer off his body as it rippled across his form.

Lindiwe inched closer to Erin's ear, "Put yourself in the same place you first used it." she whispered. Erin placed himself back in the village where it was chaos, he saw Yana once again standing there and shouting his name in reassurance. "How did you feel?" she whispered. The cold fear began to spread through Erin's veins making him freeze again as the fell on her once more with the Ursa stomping out.

A sharp pain began to make itself known in Erin's head, but he kept remembering. The anger burned deep in his heart, but it was fear that kept him in place. Then he could hear his Uncle shouting his name as he ran closer to him. Erin began to breathe heavier, his chest rose and fell rapidly as the pain in his head got worse. "What happened that made you unlock your semblance." Lindiwe continued to whisper.

Erin remembered getting shoved out of the way, then his vision went dark and his head drummed with pain. Lindiwe backed away from Erin as he dropped to his knees and screamed in agony, his aura emitted brighter before, then it began to flicker, "AAAAAAAHHHHHH!" he cried out. Erin let out another high pitch cry between his teeth as another sharp, cutting pain shot through his head. "Come on Erin, don't stop now!" Lindiwe shouted.

Erin focused harder and the pain got worse, "AAAAAHHHHH- I CAN'T!" he shouted as he stopped trying. His aura flared on and off as he was now on all fours breathing heavily, his sweat mixed with the blood that dripped from his nose.

Lindiwe ran to his side and handed him her canteen, Erin snatched it and downed it in the blink of his eyes. Erin humes as the water cooled his burning throat. Erin gasped for a breath from finishing the water and handed the canteen back. He wiped his bleeding nose on his leather arm guard and sat back on the ground while Lindiwe rubbed his shoulder. _"Aaawww, damit." _said in disappointment. _"It's ok Erin, we'll get it next time." _Feliz said positively. _"We can not succeed_ without failing first." Hugo said.

Erin looked at Lindiwe, "I told you ***pant* **I couldn't do it." he said clearly frustrated. "You must not have the aura to handle so much strain on your mind without causing pain or severe damage. You got lucky the first time." Lindiwe explained. Erin composed himself, "So… so what do we do to fix that." he replied with eagerness to do something about it.

Lindiwe smiled, "First we wait till your well enough to stand again." she replied in amusement .

They sat there for a few minutes as the pain in Erin head diminished and his aura charged up a bit. Erin stood up and did some high knees to get the feel of movement to make sure he wasn't dizzy, "Alright what's first." Erin spoke with enthusiasm.

Lindiwe stood up, "Jog with me." she said as she took off in what seemed like a sprint, her cloak flapped lazily in the air behind her with her strides. Erin's eyes widened, "WAIT!" he shouted as he began running after her, "I thought you said we were jogging!" he hollered running after her.

Erin caught up eventually to Lindiwe where she stood at a river bifraction. Erin slowed to a stop and placed his hands behind his head, "Wooo, alright so what's next?" Erin said now hyped for his next task. Lindiwe pointed at the rock triangular cliff that split the river into two, the cliff was just a grassy hill that got cut off from weathering and erosion to expose its grey rocky insides. Erin looked at Lindiwe and nodded. His personalities gave some words of confidence, "_Eyes on the prize.", "Good luck, we'll be cheering for you!", "Be sure to get a running start.", "Don't eat the ground on our first day of training."_, they each spoke one by one.

Erin took a few steps back and got a running position before taking a few deep breaths and gave a silent prayer, "Let's do this." he whispered to himself and broke into a sprint. Erin leaped across the branched off river and latched to the rock side of the cliff, without wasting a second of time he began climbing up while using some of his aura for energy. His personalities continued to cheer him.

It was about twenty feet high of a climb which would have been nerve racking for Erin, but he just didn't look down or even think about height during the climb. His had suddenly felt the soft straws of grass, meaning he had reached the top. Erin hoisted him up and rolled into the grass before standing up and looked at the rising sun that was too bright to look at directly. "_Stay on task you fool!"_ Hugo shouted. "Right!" Erin said snapping himself back to Lindiwe down at the river bifraction, "What do I do now?" he asked. Lindiwe pointed at the trees, "Make your way back down the stream using the trees." she ordered. Erin looked down from where he ran from and silently scoffed, "Ok fine." he replied getting into position to jump to the closest tree, "But!" Lindiwe started, "I want you to hop across the river when your jumping to a new tree, going in a zig-zag line." she finished.

Chestnut liked the idea, "_Ooooo I love a challenge!"_ he exclaimed. Erin nodded and looked back at his first tree and took the first leap of many. He crawled along the branch and looked over the narrow stream to find his next target. Once again he leaped across the stream into another tree, which he did several other times until he reached the lake where Lindiwe once again waited for him. He climbed down the tree and stood in front of her, a little out of breath, "So… what next?" he asked between breathes. Lindiwe smiled a bit which worried Hugo, "_I don't think I'm intrigued on what she has next." _he said in concern while Chestnut decided to be inappropriate, "_I like what she has now. Hehehehe!" _he snickered, "_Shut the hell up freak." _Kore growled.

"Repeat that four more times." she said calmly. Erin on the other hand slumped his head, "Seriously?" he whined. Lindiwe dropped her smile, "Seriously, now go." she said a little more demanding. Erin didn't argue as he ran back down to the cliff to repeat the process, four more times.

Lindiwe began to notice Erin was taking longer to complete each turn. Which meant he was running out of aura and was tired.

* * *

Erin was on his second to last one, but he was a heap of hot sweat right now. His arms and legs were like warm Jell-O as they strained to keep him up. Erin grunted as he lifted himself onto another branch and burst into a fit of breathing. He coughed on the mucus that built up in his throat. "_Quit dying and finish the this Erin!"_ Kore coached. "_Guys, I think Erin might be broken." _Feliz stated, then Chestnut tried to encourage Erin to move again, "_ERIN! THINK OF HER CHEST AND GO TO IT!" _he shouted which really didn't help. Kore snapped at him, "_Keep your damn mouth shut Chestnut! Unless one of us is taking specifically to you, I don't wanna hear another goddamn word from you!" _he barked. Hugo just said nothing, he knew he couldn't stop this kind of mayhem by just calling them fools like he usually does, he could only wait for Erin to snap.

"Holly shit! ***gasp*** Shut! ***gasp*** Up!" he swore between gasps, "I gotta ***gasp* **finish ***gasp* **this." Erin stated standing up to get ready to jump, "_I'm confident you won't make it, perhaps we should submit for now." _Hugo suggested, but Feliz didn't want to give up, "_Then be confident that he can make it Hugo!"_ he shouted in glee. "_Yeah Hugo what the hell kinda talk is that?"_ Kore added in.

Erin ignored him and took a deep breath before running along the branch and leaping with an outstretched arm.

.

.

.

.

Erin just merely snatched it as he grabbed a handful of leaves, and used his other hand to grab the branch, "YES!" Erin yelled in exhilaration, his personalities popped with cheers until- ***SNAP!***.

"SHIT!" Erin screamed as he was now falling.

Lindiwe had been waiting for a while now for Erin, this is the longest he's taken to complete the course. Lindiwe sighed as she was about to go find him, but then she stopped and narrowed her eyes when she noticed movement near the stream.

Erin stepped into the sunlight soaking wet and tired. _"At least we don't smell… as bad." _Feliz said being cheery. Erin brushed his dripping hair out of his eyes, his hair plastered to his scalp giving him helmet hair. His boots squished water between his toes with every step and it wasn't a good feeling. He walked up to Lindiwe with slight annoyance on his face.

"You failed." she said like it wasn't known. "No shit." Erin replied bitterly. "_I hope were not paying for this training."_ Kore said. Lindiwe reached inside her cloak and took out a towel and tossed it to Erin, "Dry yourself and meet me in the training room… the large white room." she clarified making her way back into the mountain.

Erin however looked at the towel and back to her, "Where were you hiding this?" he asked. Chestnut gave his own reply, "_I can think of a place she kept it, hohohohohoooo!" _he joked creeply, but Feliz didn't get it, "_What does that mean Chestnut?" _he asked with confusion. "_No! Feliz, just, no."_ Hugo intervene while Kore confronted Chestnut, "_Ok Chestnut, first off, that doesn't make sense at all. Secondly, YOUR A CREEP!" _he roared. "_I'm just guessing." _Chestnut said as if he did nothing wrong, but Kore wasn't having it, "_Nah, your just a headass." _he simplified.

Lindiwe looked back with a smirk, "I kept it on me for this obstacle course." she said amusingly. Erin pondered for a moment, "Wait, so you knew I would fail?!" Erin exclaimed. Lindiwe shrugged her shoulders, "I didn't exactly know, I just had a feeling you would." she finished turning around and waving for Erin to follow. Erin just rolled his eyes and followed as he began drying himself off.

* * *

Erin and Lindiwe were now in the training area in the weight room sector. Lindiwe explained that aura can be strengthened by pushing the limits of how much you have, during training. So Erin was put through countless workouts for muscle building, endurance building, stamina building, ect.. And he was supposed to use his aura even when he was drained of it. Erin was required to do bench press, press, squats, barbell lunges, weighted pull-ups, pushups, tricep pushups, situps, burpees, hanging from the pull up bar by his legs and doing sit ups, and so much more, but the worst for Erin was having to go down the stairs of the mountain that led back down to where he first arrived, and sprinting backup which was tourture.

At the end of the day, Erin fell into his room on the cold hard wood floor out of pure fatigue and not having any feeling in his body. "_Now that's a workout."_ Kore said, Erin thought that with his productiveness in the village he would have been a bit more prepared, but he was so wrong, it made him feel weak, but that only fueled his drive to want to get better Erin crawled to his bed and looked at the ceiling as he let out a long groan. Kore spoke first, _"How do you feel?" _he asked feeling that he already knew the answer. "Like I just went through hell and back." Erin croaked. _"I wanna get to the swords already, that's what I'm here for!" _Chestnut exclaimed.

Erin put his hand under head, "It's day one, I assume a week from now we'll get to weapons, but our main focus right now is aura, one step at a time right Hugo?", _"One step at a time." _Hugo agreed. Feliz squealed in joy, _"Ooooh man I can't wait for us to be a team! Think of all the adventures we'll go together, the fun, the drama, the memories were going to make as a FAMILY!" _he shouted in bliss. Kore replied first, _"Wow, I've never felt more unenthusiastic about doing something in my life, great job Feliz." _Kore said dryly. Chestnut laughed menacingly, _"I have a few adventures of my own that atta make some good memories!" _Chestnut exclaimed being inappropriate, but Kore had a comeback, _"I'm gonna make some good memories seeing Chestnut on the ground in pain when Karma gets his ass." _Kore said almost sounding happy.

Erin smiled before bursting out laughing before calming down to speak, "Oh man you guys… were gonna be a very unique team." he spoke truthfully. Hugo agreed, _"A unique team indeed, if we don't massacre each other first." _he mentioned. Erin thought for a moment, it was true that we fought amongst ourselves a lot, especially Kore and Chestnut. If we were to be a team, would we be able to get along with each other. "Yeah we got a few kinks to work out, especially between Kore and Chestnut.", _"The hell do I do besides get on to that ass wipe about all the crap he does." _Kore defended himself. "Because it's on **EVERYTHING **he says." Erin exaggerated.

Chestnut decided to not help his claim, _"Yeaaah Kore, hop off my nuts and let talk freely."_ Chestnut said smugly. Before Kore could snap into a tantrum Erin stepped in as he sat up, "Ok you see that right there Chestnut is the kind of bullshit I'm talking about, there's a time when it's funny and there's a time where it's annoying, very annoying. You just need to learn when to joke and when to shut the hell up, and that's all you gotta do, easy." Erin explained. _"That could have been said nicer but that was a very alright way to put it Erin." _Feliz said.

Erin had an idea, "If you guys don't get along soon I'll have Feliz give a lesson on friendship." he said with a smile, and the reactions were priceless. Kore went first, _"Oh hell no, Chestnut let's just be chill with each other before My Little Pony here tells us about the magic of friendship." _he said in desperation for Chestnut to agree, _"Nice burn, and for once I can agree, let's see how long we can put up with each other before shit goes down again, although I know who I'd go down on. Hahahahahahaha!"_.

Kore just groaned in annoyance. _"Heeeey, I stopped reading_ _My Little Pony a long time ago ok, I just liked the pictures was all." _Feliz explained. Hugo knew that being taught by Feliz would be torture, _"I couldn't bare the predicament thought of Feliz teaching a lesson on… friend ship."_ he struggled to say.

Lindiwe came in the room and Erin looked up. "Here." she said tossing a small item to him. Erin caught it on his breastplate and inspected the device, it was a white rectangular device that was curved at the corners and had a yellow rhombus in the middle. His personalities didn't know what to think of it, so Erin just did the next best thing and pressed the yellow rhombus.

The device extended in half into a screen that glowed blue before transitioning to the home page. Erin drew in a sharp breath, "***GASP!*** IS THIS A SCROLL!" he said clicking buttons on it. Lindiwe raised an eyebrow, "You, never had a scroll before?" she asked. "Nope! Seen them but never owned one. Too expensive." Erin said.

Lindiwe hummed in response, "Well then, you can make calls and send messages with this." she explained. "I know what it does I just don't own one." Erin clarified, "Now who are my contacts on here?" Erin asked pressing random buttons. Lindiwe reached over and pressed a few buttons to open his contact list to show only one, "Just me." she replied with a shit eating grin. "Wow… your good at this." Erin said closing the scroll and setting it on his lamp post.

Lindiwe walked toward the door, "Take a shower in locker room and brush up for dinner. After that, lights out, we've got much more training to do." she ordered. Erin smiled, "Yes ma'am." he said giving a two fingered salute. Lindiwe continued to leave the room, but Erin had more to say, "Hey Lindiwe!" he hollered, causing Lindiwe to pop her head back into the room, "Thanks… for everything you know." he finished warmly. Lindiwe smiled at the kind words, "Welcome to the life of a huntsman in training." she smiled and made for the kitchen.

Erin grabbed some spare clothes from his pack and made his way to the shower room.

* * *

Chad and his men had made it back to the village wall. When they arrived, medics had ran out to treat any wounded, but Chad waved off anyone that tried to help him. He walked through the hole in the wall that was smaller than it was last time. Seems reconstruction was going well.

Chad walked into an area that was pitched with dark green tents, defence troops walked in and out of the tents. This was base camp for housing troops, chow hall, medical, training, a shooting range, and everything else required to train an army.

Chad however made his way to certain tent. He pushed the flaps of the tent out of his way and stood at attention before giving a salute, "Sir! Lieutenant Colonel Rockford reporting in." he stated to his colonel. An old man with more wrinkles than a pug sat behind the desk in a uniform of medals and ribbons as he saluted back, "At ease lieutenant, take a seat." he gestured to the chair in front of his desk. The colonel lit a cigar and offered one to Chad, "No thank you, I don't smoke." he kindly denied.

The colonel took a puff before speaking, "Any luck on your search?" he asked as if he was just making small talk and didn't exactly care about the search. Chad looked down a bit but quickly remade eye contact, "Unsuccessful sir, but I came to ask something of you." Chad replied

The colonel looked at Chad for a while as he took another puff of smoke, "Well go on, what is it?" he asked. Chad placed his hands on the desk and leaned in a little, "I need to train a group of men to be able to hold their own out there." he stated. The colonel knocked the ash from his cigar, "I'm all for you training our men. In fact I wouldn't have asked for a better instructor. But it sounds to me like you have a goal in mind for such a sudden request. What are you planning?" the colonel asked in suspicion.

Chad had an option to either lie, or tell the truth, "After this attack sir it's clear that our defense is lacking in some areas as far as combat, so I want to hand pick a group of men I think can be put through huntsmen level training. And the next time we're under attack, my team will be on the front lines." Chad said with determination, being sure not to say anything about Lindiwe or Erin.

The colonel took another puff from his cigar and blew it from his nose. His dimples grew longer as his smile grew wider.

"Permission granted."

**Another day another Chapter, Happy New Years people!**


	6. Chapter 6

Personal Split

A RWBY fanfic story

By Donovan Ray Castillo

Chapter 6

Twenty two men stood at attention near the base flag pole in a clearing of dirt surrounded by tents. Chad paced back and forth in front of them all, "I am lieutenant colonel Rockford, but you will address me as lieutenant, or sir, is that understood?!", "YES SIR!" the group roared. "I have selected each of you because I think you all have what it takes to be the next best defenders of this village. I'm going to train you as though you were huntsman, because once I'm done with you your going to be killing Grimm as if though you were one. Now if you feel as if I made a mistake in selecting you into my team then by all means please excuse yourself from the premises, because your not worth my time if your having doubts!" he shouted assertively.

No one made a move to leave, they just stood there like columns. Chad scanned everyone of them, searching for the slightest flicker of unease, and he found one. Chad walked up to a red haired woman in the front. The woman strayed her eyes to the sound of footsteps to see Chad walking over to her and immediately tensed with a sharp breath as she shot her yellow eyes straight forward. Chad stopped in front of her, his shadow cast down on her due to him being about two feet taller, "What's your name soldier." he ordered.

The woman blinked three times and opened her mouth to speak, but nothing came out. Chad snapped in her face causing her to flinch a bit, "Name let's go cadet." he said, his patience running out.

She snapped back into action, "Cadet Samantha Lark! Sir!" she shouted back. "A LITTLE LOUDER CADET!" Chad shouted in her face. "CADET SAMANTHA LARK! SIR!" she shouted back with more ferocity.

"I can tell your new cadet. Your armor, your face, and that hair." he pointed out the large red bun of hair on her head, "You got birds in that nest on your head cadet?" Chad asked sternly. Samantha glowed pink in the cheeks, "N-no! No sir!" she stuttered.

Chad nodded and crossed his arms, "You look nervous cadet. Why is that?" Chad demanded an answer. Samantha did her best to keep her eyes straight and hands from fidgeting, "Because it's my first day after training and I didn't think I'd be selected for this kind of training so soon! Sir!" she finished loudly with a slight voice crack.

Some of the other men stifled a laugh or smiled at the new girls actions, "SHUT UP!" Chad barked. Fear seemed to electrify through the whole platoon at the sudden outburst.

Chad looked back down at the woman who had beads of sweat on her forehead, "I want you to ask me why I picked you." Chad ordered.

Samantha was confused, "S-sir?" she asked. Chad raised his eyebrows, "Ask me why I picked you." he said a bit more impatiently. Samantha didn't wait to do as demanded, "Why did you pick me sir?" she asked.

Chad took out a scroll device the size of a tablet and activated it. He started pushing a few buttons, "Well cadet Lark. If I'm reading your profile correctly." he turned the screen around for Samanthaher to see her own profile. Her full name, birth, age, other facts about her, and a very lengthy description of her achievements in boot camp. Samantha didn't respond, but her mouth hung open a bit as she looked at her profile picture and everything that talked and described her.

"You acceded the physical fitness for females and sixty five percent of the males, your said to have hawkeye accuracy, you follow orders obediently to the letter, an outstanding number of nights spent in the woods which I assume means your a survivalist, you beat the record time in our obstacle course with eleven point six seconds…" as Chad went on and on about Samantha. Some of the troops began looking at each other as the list of achievements grew. "And you've got a class rank of six out of the whole plantation. That's why I picked you, I only hope you live up to what's said about you." he finished making his point. Pressure had built on her chest, making it harder to breathe and talk.

Samantha was about to say something, but Chad had walked off. "Since none of you have left, that can only mean your going to show me you belong here. However! If I see that you can't meet the requirements because of an injury or you've fallen behind, then you will be booted from the group and go back to your normal duties. IS THAT UNDERSTOOD!" he barked. "YES SIR!" the platalion boomed in union.

Chad clapped his hands together, "Let's run some drills."

* * *

"Drills!? Again!" Erin complained. "Yes, again. Now go." Lindiwe ordered. It was day three of training and all Erin had done was drills. He had to do the tree obstacle course thing like five times in a row which he was still unsuccessful in completing. Then it was to the weight room for obviously weightlifting, except everyday he would work on a different part of the body which Lindiwe sent to him different workouts on his scroll so he wouldn't forget what he was doing. Stairs on the mountain had continued to be awful, but the after feeling was nightmarish.

Some new drills were added in, like gymnastics. There is more to this mountain than Erin thought, the training room sectors were only a taste of what's really there. The floor on the left side of the room can actually drop down into the ground while the walls open up to push out a gymnasium, like a built in rotating system with several different options to train in. The right side however turned into a very long pool with diving boards.

Feliz loved to swim, so he was pretty excited about that. Chestnut on the other hand wanted to do all the flips and tricks he could do in the gymnasium section, even though he didn't know how to do any of them.

That gymnasium was gated off and had a foam mat for protection from fatal falls for protection from fatal falls. There were running mats, foam pits, hoops, poles, and more. Erin tried asking who had built this place, but only got silence every time,seemed as though she didn't trust him quite yet.

Erin only got to use the gymnasium area for the time being. "So what do I need to learn in all of… this." Erin said with his finger circling towards the ropes and poles. Lindiwe stepped onto the mat and looked towards Erin, "Huntsmen must be agile enough to leap high in the sky with a single bound. Move at speeds of a hummingbird, and use the terrain around them to their advantage. Observe." she then unhooked her cloak and let it fall to the floor. Now Erin recently found out that Lindiwe was from Vacuo where it was very hot, so the people there didn't wear long clothes to cover their whole body. She attended attend Beacon Academy because her father moved the family hear. Only problem is that Vale was infested with more Grimm than Vacuo ever was, but Vacuo wasn't always safe from Grimm. The most common kind were nasty bat like Grimm called Ravagers that came out at night and were known for their painful bite that lasted weeks even when treated.

Erin got to see the kind of clothing Lindiwe wore, which was definitely from Vacuo. She wore tight black shorts that stopped halfway down her thigh with a gold chain going through the belt loop with a silver tiger emblem on the front. Her top was made from orange and black striped tiger fur that wrapped around her chest, two orange fur straps went from the tiger top and connected to a gold ring rested on her collarbone that had more orange fur going through it and around her neck to keep the whole top together and left her stomach area exposed. A necklace of tiger teeth adored around her neck to give her more of an animalistic look. Her sun tanned legs were fully exposed and her feet were only covered by the straps on her sandals.

Erin turned a shade of red as his eyes bulged a bit, "Oh good lord." Erin mumbled, already knowing what was going to happen. "_HOT DAMN BABY! YEEEEEAH!"_ Chestnut exclaimed like a dog looking a steak, "_Erin you got some dollar lien?" _he asked rhetorically. "Kore take care of him." Erin whispered trying to push anymore red down and away from his face. "_She's eh, she's kinda hot actually. But shut up Chestnut!" _Kore barked. "_Wow… she's pretty."_ Feliz said with innocence, but Chestnut saw an opening, "_Well Feliz I don't normally share, but since your my friend I'll make an exception. Hehehe!" _he laughed sinisterly. Hugo quickly stopped Chestnut, "_Quit manipulating Erin into your pervy fanatics you fool! Kore, back me up here."_. "_Damn she rocks that tiger top well."_ was all Kore said. "_All of you are FOOLS!"_ Hugo exclaimed.

Lindiwe ran over to two tall walls facing each other and quickly hopped from wall to wall up to a high platform. Without stopping she jumped off the platform and was free falling towards the ground. Erin stomach dropped a bit when she got closer to the ground with what seemed like no way of stopping herself. Lindiwe extended her arms to catch a pole that swung her and quickly released it that sent her spiraling into the air. Lindiwe came out of her ball just in time to grab two rings to her left and right that hung in the air. She flipped herself upside down while grasping the rings. Her arms should have popped from their shoulder socket, but they continued to twist unusually, making Erin cringe. Chestnut thought it was cool, "_Damn she's flexible."_. Feliz popped with excitement, "_I want to be flexible to!"_ he shouted.

Lindiwe let go of the rings and landed on the mat. She did circular motions with her arms to stretch them out as she walked back to her cloak and picked it up. Erin was still surprised by the show of acrobatics, "Am I gonna have to do that?" he asked, obviously a little nervous. "In time yes." she answered as she pinned her cloak back on making Chestnut give a small cry of disappointment. Lindiwe looked back at Erin and furrowed her brow, "Why is your face red?" she asked. Erin tensed up in surprise, "Nothing!" he shouted by accident making him mentally punch himself. Erin cleared his throat, "Nothing." he said more calmly. "_Real smooth dipshit."_ Kore said bitterly. Lindiwe scoffed and rolled her eyes before making for the exit, "Teenage boys." she mumbled. "_Your a fool." _Hugo stated.

* * *

Days turned into weeks and weeks turned into almost a month of training. And while Erin was still making progress on his aura, Chad had been making progress in forming a team of his own huntsmen.

The past few weeks of training was early morning runs, dozens of P.T. tests, combat training, marksmanship, and orientering.

Right now all twelve of his men were around a makeshift boxing square that was kept up by metal supports and cylinder blocks. Plywood boards rested on the supports along with a shock absorbing foam underlay and heavy duty canvas covers.

Chad stepped between the rope covers and stood on the canvas, "This!" he gestured toward the ring, "Is where your hand to hand combat training will be tested. You come up here and you show me what you've learned, and until the other person is knocked out or almost dying, you do not stop. Am I clear?", "YES SIR!" everyone barked. "Ok good, were going to have you two come up first." he pointed to two random guys. They looked at each other with glares trying to be tough as they stepped up into the ring.

Samantha had butterflies in her stomach seeing the two men enter the ring. Despite her outstanding combat ratings in boot camp, she would always get nervous before a match. Even the practice matches from boot camp and Chads training would give her goosebumps.

The crowd gave a few claps and cheers as the two fighters took their fighting positions while staring knives at each other.

***DING!* *DING!***

Chad hit the bell to signify the start of the match and the two circled each other which increased the tension. Samantha jumped a bit with a squeak when a hand touched her shoulder and turned around to see a man with black hair that was bleached at the tips in a quiff hairstyle. He had brown skin and deep brown eyes that looked at her with warmth and comfort, "Sorry I didn't mean to startle you, I-I'm Woods. Damien Woods." he spoke softly while holding his hand out. Samantha took his hand and shook it, "H-hello, I'm Samantha. Samantha Lark." she quipped, meeting new people wasn't exactly her specialty, but she seemed to be good with first impressions. Woods cleared his throat before speaking, "I'm aware, hehe. The ugh, lieutenant gave you a special introduction on the first day." he smiled a bit at that memory. Samantha buried her face in her hands, "Oh my gosh don't remind me, that was so embarrassing. Hehehe." they both laughed silently.

"**OOOOHHHH!"** the crowd shouted as one of the guys countered a punch and delivered a swift kick to the others side followed by an uppercut to the face.

Woods and Samantha looked at the fight before continuing their talk, "So what's up with you Damien?" Samantha asked putting her hand on her hip. "Well,I don't want to be annoying but, I wanted to ask what the bun was all about. Isn't that against some kind of rule or something?" Woods asked rubbing the back of his head. Samantha lightly rubbed her bun, "It's actually a part of my semblance, so I was able to get excused from some of the hair rules so long as I keep it tied up. So I keep it in a bun… a rather large bun at that." she explained.

"**YEEEAAAHHH!"** the crowd cheered once again as both of the fighters began a heated exchange of blows and kicks, some dodged and some hit which got the crowd even more riled up. Some soldiers came out of their tents and made their way to the commotion just to get a better view of the show.

Woods and Samantha locked their attention to the fight as the crowd went wild as one of the fighters was left defending himself in the corner from a fury of punches to his head and mid section. The guy on offense backed off so the other guy could recover and lower his defense. He took a quick step to the right, but quickly dodged left to avoid a punch and deliver a swing across his face. The force sent a shockwave through his face as his jaw wiggled a bit, spit flew from his open mouth before face planting hard on the ground. The crowd that grew double the size went silent before bursting into cries of cheering excitement and whistling. Chad rang the bell to end the match as two men carried the knocked out man while the other held his fists up in triumph despite the slight bruising and blood on his face.

Chad re-entered the ring, "Ok up next… Bun!" he shouted pointing at her. Samantha's face paled as her stomach dropped, she felt like throwing up, but it never happened. She also groaned a bit at the nickname the lieutenant had given her a while back because of her hair, she just learned to deal with it instead of trying to talk to him about it because the first time she did she wound up with a list of other ridiculous names that he could have picked which she rather not say. All the eyes of her fellow squad mates dawned on her which made the knot in her chest tighten. Woods patted her shoulder, "Good luck." he spoke softly and squeezed her shoulder, despite the kind gesture, it didn't help that much. "Lets go Samantha!" Chad rushed. Samantha forced herself to move forward past the lingering eyes, some of which were glares and scowls from those who doubted her. Once she stepped through the ropes Chad pointed to two other guys from the platoon, "You two up here." he gestured for them to come up. The crowd vibrated with whispers and murmurs of the two on one match they were about to bare witness to. Samantha looked at Chad, "W-wait sir, two on one? I don't think I can-" she started but was interrupted, "Sometimes a fight isn't always fair, but I wouldn't be doing this if I didn't think you could handle it." Chad smirked while exiting the ring as two other guys entered and showed off their bulky muscles.

When Samantha was still in basic training at boot camp, there was a female drill instructor that would always wail on her with insults and discouraging comments. She always yelled at her in front of the other cadets in the barracks, or would pull her off to the side in the middle of prctice just to yell at her about something stupid. It made it made her look puny to everyone, so no one took her serious when it came to fights. But Samantha supposed that was the idea she was going for.

Samantha begun replaying thoughts moments back in her head, nerves turned to anger as her confidence took the place of fear. She inhaled deeply and exhaled slowly, "You got this girl, you got this." she whispered to herself and took a fighting stance. The two guys looked at each other and smiled before raising their fists.

***DING!* * DING!***

The match was on and the two combatants circled her in opposite directions while Samantha had already formulated a plan on what they were doing and how to fight back. She kept were gaze on the guy in front of her, but was catiouse on the man behind her, waiting for one of them to make a move. Just as planned the guy behind her made the first move as he ran up to her to deliver a punch, but Samantha side step last second for him to punch the air and get tripped by Samantha's outstretched leg, causing him to fall into the guy in front of her that tried to rush.

The crowd gave an, "**Oooooo!"** of surprise, but Samantha wasn't done yet as she got her distance. The two men pushed each other off and simultaneously charged at her, Samantha went for the guy on the right as he threw a punch for Samantha to block and deliver a palm heel punch to his jaw making him fall back while the second attacker sent a kick to Samantha's head. But she was fast enough to catch his foot and raise it to send him off balance as she sent a sharp jab to his knee joint caused his other leg to buckle as Samantha released his foot for him to bow on one knee before her.

The attacker behind Samantha began to recover as he made his way to his feet. That guy had aura if the yellow glow around him was no indication. Samantha acted quickly as she stepped on the guys injured knee which caused him to scream in pain, and push herself up to deliver a swift kick to his chin with her other foot that made fill fall back. She back flipped into the air and landed on the shoulders of the guy that just recovered. He struggled to get her off him, but she squeezed her thighs around his neck and leaned back to catch him off balance. When he started to fall Samantha used her momentum to turn over so she didn't fall on her back. She quickly put the guy in an arm bar and squeezed tight around his neck, she could hear the struggle of him trying to breath as he punched her leg in desperation to get out. Unfortunately aura couldn't protect him from loss of oxygen.

Suddenly her hair bun got pulled on causing her to let go of her victim and yelp in pain. She stood up and took a couple steps back from being pulled before elbowing the guy hard in the gut. He let go of her hair and held his side while Samantha rubbed her funny bone before delivering a left punch, then a right punch. He made an effort to upper cut her, but Samantha backed away and pushed the guy back before running at him and drop kicked him in the chest which caused him to land near the edge of the ring.

The crowd had tripled in size and was in up roar of cheering while others were barking at the guy to stand up. The guy still had some fight in him as he used the ropes to pick himself up. Samantha hadn't dropped a sweat yet as she tended to her bun to fix any damage, but that cockyness cost her as a pair of arms wrapped around her waist and in complete surprise she was raised up and suplexed onto her head.

The crowd erupted in applause at the move while Samantha laid there with stars in her eyes and a ring in her ear. Before she could recover she was grabbed by the collar of her shirt and was roughly hoisted up into a head butt. Samantha's yellow aura flared to shield her as her head was shot back staring at the bright sun in the sky while the background noise was muffled. The guy holding Samantha's shirt pulled her hard and threw her to the guy behind him who elbowed her hard in the face knocking her off her feet as she slammed hard on the ground.

She stared lazily up at the blue vibrant sky, the cheering boomed around in her head. The sun seemed to grow brighter until its light engulfed her entire vision, then she started hearing voices of a past memory.

"Your weak!" her old drill instructor screamed at her. It was like she was back in boot camp again.

"You think this program needs you? NO! You need this program! But we'll be sending your sorry ass home if you don't! Get! Up!" she continued to scream

Suddenly a hurricane of a thousand voices that were all of her drill instructor flooded her head and started screaming at her to either get up or continue to fail.

Samantha used her aura to flushed out the pain and dizziness as she did a kick up which got some more cheers from the audience. Her opponents snarled and cracked their knuckles as they slowly paced towards her.

Samantha smiled as she ran to the gap between them. The two guys readied for an attack, but before they could do anything, Samantha had jumped and turned her body horizontally to deliver a punch and kick at the same time to both of them. When she landed she instantly roundhouse kicked the guy to her right before he could recover, making him spin and fall. The guy to her left with aura recovered enough to deliver a sucker punch across Samantha's face that caught her off guard slightly, but she caught the next one and pulled his fist while spinning her body into him to head butt him in the nose with the back of her head while the other guy charged at her. Samantha smiled as an idea popped in her head, when the charging guy got close enough she launched her legs up and kicked the guy in the chest sending him back and her over the man who she had a grip strong grip on his hand and proceeded to put in an arm lock once she landed. The guy winced in pain at the discomfort of his twisting shoulder, his aura began to flicker as it ran low. Samantha could see the other guy still had some fight in him as he stood up clumsily, she needed to hurry this up. Samantha let go of the arm hold and put him in a choke hold, she used some aura to strengthen the hold and make the pressure on his trachea tighter until his rough struggle and animalistic growling died down. Samantha let go for him to face plant into the ground causing the crowd to go wild, like feeding a flock of ducks bread.

The other guy seemed like he was ready to collapse on his bed and fall asleep. Some sweat dripped into the cuts on his face which stung like fire ants as his nose leaked blood. Samantha walked up to him smugly. When she got close enough, the guy through a half ass punch that Samantha easily caught, she then she flipped him over her body and with her other arm raised him higher in the air and held him in the air to raise suspense. The crowd began to go silence as the energy anticipation radiated from action hungry eyes, it was like waiting for the beat drop of your favorite song.

"HHRRAAAHHH!" she slammed him with the crack of the ground being canceled by the thunder of cheering through the large crowd that had formed around the boxing ring.

***DING!* *DING!***

Samantha had never felt so good about winning a match ever as she looked around at everyone cheering for her.

But the cheering died down as fast as it came into low chants. "Rhino." "Rhino." "Rhino!" "Rhino!" "RHINO!" "RHINO!" "**RHINO!" "RHINO!"**. The chanting grew louder as Samantha became more confused, she looked up to Chad who was waving to someone in the crowd to come up to the ring. As the chanting continued, the crowd of people where she entered the ring began to make a path for a very large, muscular, grey skinned, rhino fanuas she could only assume was "Rhino." Samantha mumbled. She recognized him from the hand picked group of selected soldiers to be apart of Chads special training. Let's just say his appearance put a crack in her confidence.

He had turkey sized biceps and humungus legs that were made for crushing. His horn was sharpened to a point and was where his nose would be, but his nostrils were on the side of the horn. His grey skin looked dry and wrinkly, his unusually large hands stretched the rope wall which he could barely squeeze through. Once he was through the crowd applauded to their new combatant entering the ring.

The two guys were thankfully moved before Rhinos dirty military boots could crush their heads like grapes. Rhino brushed up his dark green T-shirt and his black leather vest, "Ring the bell already lieutenant! I'm ready to rumble!" he shouted deeply with eagerness to pumble this girl while his forest green eyes gave a deathly glare. Rhino snorted before pawing the ground getting ready for a charge.

Samantha looked up at Chad with pleading eyes, but he gave her a confident look and mouthed 'You can do this.' while giving a thumbs up.

***DING!* *DING!***

Samantha gave herself a quick smack on the face to get her back in the game as the fanus started stampeding toward her. The whole ring shook at the might of his power.

Samantha waited for him to get close enough before turning a one eighty and backflipping onto his large back. Rhino shook with the ferocity of a bull as Samantha pulled up on his horn.

The crowd was screaming either for Samantha or for Rhino.

Rhino reached up and grabbed Samantha's whole head in his enormous palm before yanking her down and slamming her into the ground, causing the crowd to wince in pain.

Rhino wasn't done as he proceeded to grab Samantha's leg and slammed her over and over again causing small cracks to form on his left and right from the constant beating he delivered. If Samantha didn't have aura, she'd likely be dead.

The whole crowd was now wincing in pain as Rhino threw her to the other side of the ring. Samantha could only muster up a squeak of air to escape her mouth as the sun was blocked out by a large form. Samantha was able to put her vision together to see Rhino hovering over her. She jumped up to her feet as she brought her hands up and sent a quick jab to his mid section which resulted about as well as you'd expect.

Samantha clenched her fist as she choked down a cry of pain. Rhino began to give a hearty laugh which frustrated Samantha enough to go for an upper cut on Rhino. Samantha held both of her hands to her chest as she let out a cry of pain, she made quick work of her aura to heal them. Rhino only laughed harder as he buckled over and smacked his thigh in humor, "Your a funny lady you know that, I ain't ever laughed so hard in match ever!" Rhino exclaimed. Some of the crowd laughed with him at the double fail.

Shortly after he stopped laughing and grabbed Samantha by the hair bun, hoisting her in the air. Samantha kicked and screamed trying to break free as Rhino brought her around so that she was no longer near the rope wall. "Let me go!" Samantha strained as she tried to kick Rhino in the face, but instead he smiled and laughed, "If you insist." he gave a toothy grin as he curled his massive fingers into a ball and reared his fist back. Samantha went wide eyed and drew in a sharp gasp upon realization as she brought her aura up in time to take a punch to the chest. The punch didn't feel like getting punched, more like getting hit by a truck, but on one part of her body. Samantha went flying before barrel rolling all the way to the other side of the ring.

The crowd began cheering Rhino's name while he flexed to the crowd, "YEAH! I'M THE KING OF THE RING HERE SON!" he boasted to the cheering crowd, they were like monkeys going wild over bananas.

Half of the crowd were screaming their asses off for Samantha to get up. With the wind knocked out of her her fast paced breathing made her chest hurt, but she controlled her breathing into shaky breaths. She sat up despite the stabbing ache in her chest. The crowd only got louder for her when she started to stand.

She used the ropes to prop herself up as she bit down on her lip to hold a cry of pain. She could use the last bit of her heal her bruising pained chest, or put up one last fight.

When she finally pushed off the ropes and stood on her own the crowd exploded into a thunderstorm of shouting. Rhino turned around pissed off to see his opponent hadn't been dragged off, but rather standing with one eye open as she winced while holding her chest.

Rhino chuckled, "Hahaha! You got a fire in ya missy!" he said pointing at her, "I like that." he growled deeply as green eyes glared darkly at her. "This time Imma make sure you stay down." he huffed through his nostrils before getting on all fours and pawing the ground.

Woods pulled his hair a bit, "Oh man this is intense." he said wiping the sweat from his forehead.

Samantha had one last trick up her sleeve. She reached up and took the pins from her hair bun. Her red hair fell gracefully along her back and over her shoulders until it barely just hit the ground. Considering she was six four, it was long hair. She wiped her hair back and forth and gave a fierce glare of her own. Some of the guys whistled at her sexiness while others clapped and cheered, but Samantha didn't acknowledge them instead she waited for her opponent to make a move.

Rhino chuckled, "Hohohokay okay, we gettin serious now with the hair thing. I like it! Imma hate to mess it up though! GRRUUGHH!" he roared as he stampeded, horn pointed directly at her.

Samantha ignored the pain and ran at him as her hair waved behind her. The world seemed to slow down as she drop slid past the horn and under the body of the huge fanus. Rhino went wide eyed as Samantha's red hair began to wrap itself around his face, and before he could process what was happening his head jerked down and crashed into the ring floor.

Samantha withdrew her hair and the crowd went in a silence awe.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

**"YYYYEEEEAAAAHHHH!"**

***WHISTLE!***

**"WOOOOHOOOO!"**

***WHISTLE!***

**"HELL YEAH!"**

The crowd screamed in excitement!

Samantha stood tall as her hair began to float elegantly in waves, like long red snakes protruding from her scalp.

Rhino picked himself up and shook his head, "Alright missy! No more playing around!" he growled as he punched his hand and flexed for a second. If his popping veins wasn't a clear indication that he was mad then his stomping feet and reared back fist was.

Rhino hit nothing but ground leaving a crack in the floor, but looked up to see Samantha mid air with her red hair curled out to the side. As if on command her hair shot forward and wrapped around his arms, "HEY!" Rhino shouted, but could say no more when Samantha pulled herself and drove her heel into his face and kicked off his with the other foot, giving them some distance.

The crowd was in out cry at Samantha's sudden attack.

Samantha wasted no time in her next attack, while Rhino was still stunned she wrapped her hair around Rhinos wrists. "Huh?" Rhino looked at his wrists in confusion. Samantha stepped back before sling shot herself towards him and delivered a double whammy kick with both feet to his face. His tough skin rippled from the immense force as his eyes rolled back a bit.

The audience went "**OOOOHH!**" at the scene they bare witnessed.

Samantha used her hair to cartwheel a safe distance, but Rhino didn't fall, he only stumbled back and held his face. Samantha breathed heavily, her adrenaline had made the pain go away for now, but she drew in a sharp gasp when she heard laughter.

The audience settled down as they heard Rhino burst into a hearty cackle, "HAAAAHAHAHAAA!" he buckled over laughing as he wiped a trickle of blood that ran down from his nose, "You know it's been a long while since I've found someone tough enough to make me use my aura." he said with an evil toothy grin.

Samantha eyes went to saucers as her mouth fell open. She was now looking at Rhinos dark green aura blanket over his body and heal his wounds. He pounded his fist in his hand, "Ready for anotha dance?" he smiled.

Samantha was still crouched over catching her breath. She dropped her head and closed her eyes.

.

.

She took a deep breath to calm her nerves and cleared her mind.

.

.

And attacked.

She shot her hair forward and wrapped around his leg and pulled hard, but Rhino was ready this time as he pulled his leg back causing Samantha to stumble forward a bit as he grabbed a fist full of her red hair and yanked hard. Samantha yelped in pain as she was forced to move forward to keep her balance.

Once Samantha was close enough Rhino sent an uppercut to her face. The next thing she knew her vision went dark and cloudy as a loud ring in her ears gave a high pitched whine. Her aura shattered like glass as it flared before disappearing, blood and spit went flying from her face. Her head was shot back along with her entire body, the punch being so powerful it sent her flying back over the ropes and into the crowd.

Everyone made a circle for Samantha took take a hard landing on the ground, but one man pushed through the crowd and into the circle in time to catch a knocked out Samantha bridal style. Her limbs flailed loosely as her hair sprawled out wildly all over the ground and her rescuer, "Wow there! I gotcha." the familiar voice said. Samantha wasn't quite out yet, her eyes slivered open enough to get a clouded picture of Woods face before slouching her head back and blacking out.

***DING!* *DING!***

The crowd cheered at the matches intense conclusion!

Wood's began heading to the infirmary as everyone made a path for them, most of the audience patted Samantha's unconscious form to say she did well as Woods continued through. That drill instructed who she hated so much, was now her best friend today. On the last day of basic training, Samantha was pulled aside by the drill instructor into a hug. It turns out that there weren't a lot of women in this village that trained into the military life, and her instructor was being extra hard on her to prepare her for a hard world of possibly getting criticised, and that as an instructor she was just doing her job.

Chad smirked as he looked at Woods carrying an unconscious Samantha, "Good shit Samantha. Good shit." he said with crossed arms, "ALRIGHT WHO'S NEXT!" he shouted amongst the crowd.

* * *

**Meanwhile in the living room/Bar **

Erin had continued the same drills for about a month, and was now pushing to move on to something new, "But when am I ready!". "When you've learned to use your semblance again!" Lindiwe shouted back. "Why is it so important to have my semblance right now!" Erin protested. "Because you say you don't have the aura to use your semblance, that means you don't have the aura to be a huntsmen, and by unlocking your semblance I can train all of you at the same time without you being ahead!" Lindiwe explained getting frustrated. Hugo knew she was right, "_She does make a valid point. We should all be there to receive the same training." _he pointed out.

Erin learned about an aura tracking meter on his scroll that he could use to keep track of his aura usage and durability. In time he noticed his aura was getting stronger and could last longer before giving out. It was only a couple of weeks ago he successfully completed the obstacle course with the trees and a river five times in a row. He could see why aura was of such important value to all huntsmen, it was a real powerhouse of energy that allows the user to accomplish great lengths of activity. Erin even began to notice his own physical form take on a more muscular structure, he found this out by flexing to himself in the locker room mirror

Erin groaned and pulled his hair, Lindiwe turned to him once more, "Unless your ready to try and use your semblance again I will not allow you to proceed into higher level training. Every time I mention you trying to activate your semblance again you push it off or use the excuse that you don't have the aura yet for such a task. So I will keep giving you drills and workout plans until your finished with excuses, and ready to tell me what your real problem is." she finished with annoyance.

Kore even agreed, _"Yeah not cool man, I've actually tried being patient with you, but your just being difficult now!" _he growled. Erin balled his fists and blew a bubble in his mouth making his face turn red from anger, "I'm not trying to be difficult!" he shouted to Kore specifically. Erin turned back to Lindiwe and pointed at her, "You just don't think I'm ready to move on yet is what's up!" Erin shouted defiantly. Lindiwe took a few steps closer to Erin getting in his face, "I think you are more than capable of moving on in your training. You have such determination to get better, and nothing frustrates me more to see you crumble under pressure of your own doubt!" she said poking a finger on his chest, "You keep thinking this is my fault but you have know one to blame for holding you back but yourself! If you honestly think that I'm wasting your time than you can leave!" she shouted. Erin took a step back and went wide eyed as he gave a quiet gasp. "_I think you should apologize."_ Feliz said. Lindiwe backed away from him a bit and cooled off, "So what keeps you from trying to use your semblance? Where is your anger really coming from?" she asked sympathetically.

Erin put his hands on his hips, breathed hard from stress while scrunching his eyebrows together. Hugo spoke first, "_Erin, you need to handle yourself and speak truthfully."_ he said. "I know I know, I just-" Erin started but Kore cut in, "_Enough of these bullshit excuses, what's really going on?!"_ he demanded. Lindiwe watched Erin pace while talking with himself, or to his personalities actually. "_Kore you fool! That's not how you calm someone down!"_ Hugo shouted. Feliz approached Erin with more ease, "_Erin, is it the nightmares of the attack that's bothering you?"_ he asked.

Erin stopped pacing and just stared at the wooden floor as he held his breath. Eventually he made a mental decision and looked up to meet Lindiwe's orange orbs, her eyes seemed to be studying him, like she was taking mental notes on his actions. Erin swallowed hard and took a deep breath before speaking, "Those nightmares I told you about… there getting worse, at least when I have them, their always on and off. When I think of that night… the attack… it seems to use those against me and I don't know how. The feeling in these nightmares is worse than the actual pain I feel when I try using my semblance. I'm scared… I'm scared that if I have to remember that night to use my semblance… these nightmares will only get worse." Erin couldn't help but tremble a bit.

Lindiwe stared at the scared boy before walking over and embracing him into a hug. Erin didn't hug back at first, he was caught off guard by it, but eventually leaned into the warmth and hugged back. Lindiwe stroked his messy hair, she remembered having nightmares at one point to. When she lost her friend Summer, she blamed herself for a while and wondered what she could have done differently which caused night terrors to affect her mental health and keep her in doors for the longest time. She had left Chad at this point in time, so no one was there to comfort her, only time mended her wounds, but the scars were still there.

They stayed embraced for a while, "_This is nice… this is real nice."_ Chestnut broke the silence. Kore spoke next, "_Welp that could have been said less creepy, but it was a good moment while it lasted."_ he stated. "_Your a damn fool Chestnut."_ Hugo mentioned. "_I know I am!"_ Chestnut exclaimed like he was proud.

Erin and Lindiwe broke apart, Erin wiped his eyes from building tears, "Sorry about getting mad, I just needed to get that off my chest." Erin said clearly upset still as he rubbed his eyes. Lindiwe placed a hand on his shoulder, "You don't need to beat yourself up, I was in your position once to, but remember what I said about fear?" she asked with a smile. Erin sighed, "To look at it straight in the eyes? Or was it not to let it control you?" Erin pondered. "Sure. Something like that." she replied, they both shared a small laugh at that.

Lindiwe let go of Erins shoulder, "So are you good now?" she asked. Erin nodded, "Yeah, yeah I'm good now. I should get started on my workout now, I'll think about trying my semblance again tomorrow." he said starting for the training room, but Lindiwe put a hand on his chest to stop him, "Actualy, I can think of one new thing we can try out." she pointed out her index finger. Erin's eyes popped open in excitement.

* * *

Erin and Lindiwe stood across each other from the wood floor of the dojo that was in the training room. There was a tropical flower symbol in the middle of the floor that Erin had no clue what it meant. "Were going to see just how long you can hold up your aura. I'm going to attack you, and your going to use your aura to protect yourself for as long as you can, understood?" she instructed.

Erin clapped and rubbed his hands together, "Bring it!" Erin shouted.

Lindiwe didn't move, she just stared at him which confused Erin as he raised an eyebrow, "Are you gonna-"

***POW!***

Lindiwe moved like a bullet and punched like one to in Erin's face. Luckily he had his aura up as he half expected that to happen. Before Erin could fall he was punched from behind, then his side, then his head, then his stomach and every other direction until it finally stopped.

Erin spun around in dizziness before dropping to a knee, "Gaaahhh!" he yelped. _"WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT!" _Kore shouted in surprise. Hugo had a different reaction, _"Such an incredible speed! We must learn these ways!" _he exclaimed. Feliz laughed in joy for some reason, _"WOW! That was so cool!" _he said in awe while Chestnut agreed, _"Yeah! Do it again! Do it again!" _he cheered.

"You wouldn't be saying that if you were in control, aaawww!" he groaned as he stood up. _"OK!" _Chestnut shouted. Erin went wide eyed, "Chestnut wai-!" Erin stopped mid sentence as his eyes twitched to green.

Lindiwe stopped her next attack in time to hear Erin talking to himself and then tense up all of a sudden. She was about to ask if he was ok until Erin's aura shined green as turned around with green eyes instead of brown. Lindiwe gasped in realization, this must be one of the personalities taking control, her first interaction.

Chestnut gave a sly grin as he showed off his white pearly teeth, "Hey sexy." he spoke in a seductive tone. Lindiwe gave a look of disgust after hearing that. "Hehehe. You know instead of fist fighting why don't we wres-".

***POW!***

One punch sent Erin back in control, but she didn't stop there. As Erin was falling back Lindiwe grabbed Erin by the neck and slammed him into the hardwood floor, then she hoisted him up by the collar of his leather armor and kneed him hard in the face. Lindiwe continued to deliver several combos of swift kicks and punches to almost every part of his body. She finished off with a leg swing around his neck and used her momentum to launch him into one of the wooden columns without it breaking.

Lindiwe did a kick up and snapped her scroll out to see Erin's aura low in the yellow, soon to turn red. To say the least, she was a bit proud of his progress, but with the effort he's put in to training it wasn't all that surprising, even if he was just an eleven year old boy.

Erin rolled over with a heavy groan, "Aaahhh *cough* *cough*. Chestnut…why the hell… would you do that." he strained to say as he kept his aura up to block out the pain. Kore replied first, "_Because he's a headass! Chestnut what is wrong with you!?" _he roared with rage. "_You damned fool! Of all the perposturase things you've done that surpasses all of them! How foolish can you be!?" _Hugo to exclaimed in anger. Chestnut was silent for a second, "_What a woman."_ he cooed. "_Aawww! I think thats cute."_ Feliz gushed, but Kore thought otherwise, "_No it's not! It's actually far from it Feliz, you just don't get it." _he explained in annoyance

Erin crawled up the pole for support as he stood himself up, "Chestnut… I'm gonna nut tap you...hard! When your out of my head." Erin said. Lindiwe looked at him as if she were asking him if he could continue. Erin quickly regained his balance before looking at her dead set with seriousness, "Is that all *huff* you got?" he asked motioning with his hands to give him more.

Lindiwe smiled as she launched herself at him and did a leg sweep. Erin yelped at the sudden motion of him falling, but Lindiwe moved like sound as she stood up only to bring her elbow down onto Erin and dug it deep in his gut. Erin's face seemed to twist into surprise, pain, and coughing at the same time as he hit the ground hard once more. Lindiwe looked down on him in slight disappointment, "You still have aura left, so why do you continue to lay their?" she asked, annoyance present in her tone. Erin put a hand on where she gut elbowed him, "I'm starting to think this is just punishment for me... snapping at you earlier." he strained.

"_Punishment? I don't see any whips and chains though, HAHAHAHA!"_ Chestnut butted in only for Kore and Hugo to instantly respond with, "_**SHUT UP!"**_. Feliz replied to Chestnut a bit more kindly, "_Ugh Chestnut? Maybe right now isn't the best time for you to talk, unless its an apology." _he stated. "_Okaaay." _Chestnut said in defeat, "_I'm sorry I got more attention from her than you." _he said with fake apologeticness in his voice. "_Yeah that's not what I meant… at all actually."_ Feliz explained.

"Stand up!" Lindiwe shouted at Erin. Erin rolled over on all fours, "*cough* Hold on. Let me recover." he replied getting up. Lindiwe scoffed, "You won't always have time to recover. You need to learn to be able to take a few beatings and continue to stand right away." she explained. Erin growled as he looked up at her, "This is going to take some getting used to ok! You can't expect me to be able to keep up with you like I've been doing this for years." he argued back. Lindiwe put a hand on her hip, "Your right, I don't expect you to, but I thought you would be more determined in a fight!" she shot back, "I am determined!", "Then what would your Uncle think if he saw his 'determined' nephew wallowing on the ground!" Lindiwe finished , she realized what she said was bad, but hopefully it would work.

Erin was feeling a mix of emotions, but anger was the one making the calls, "_I can't believe she just said that, deck her!" _Kore shouted. "_Erin no!"_ Hugo tried to take control, but Erin had a firm grasp on his mental control. Erin lunged at Lindiwe with a balled up fist and an intention to glock her hard. But as his fist was about to collide with her face, she seemed to materialize into thin air causing him to go wide eyed. As his fist passed through air an arm snaked under his armpit and a hand cupped the back of his neck while a hand wrapped around the wrist of his other hand and was yanked behind his back and pulled up, making Erin wince in pain. "_This is what you get when you try to hit a huntsmen." _Hugo stated.

Erin quit struggling when his shoulder popped, a spike of pain shot up his shoulder and Erin went silent as his eyes bulged. Lindiwe got close to Erins ear, "That's the kind of determination a huntsman has." she pushed Erin and let go.

Erin rubbed his shoulder and rotated the joint to get rid of the soreness, "Son of a bitch that hurt!" Erin howled in pain. "_And lesson learned."_ Hugo snarked. "_Hugo how are you not mad!" _Kore retaliated. "_I'm just wise enough to know when were out matched you FOOL!" _Hugo snapped back. Feliz spoke next, "_Erin please don't do anything that you know you can't win."_ Feliz pleaded.

Erin turned to look at Lindiwe who gave a shit eating grin. Erin puffed out a breath, "I ain't done yet." his body swayed as he raised his arms up. "Your auras broke." Lindiwe pointed out. Erin shrugged his shoulders, "And?" he asked.

Lindiwe's smile grew bigger, "Good answer." she mumbled. Lindiwe kicked off the ground towards Erin. Feliz freaked out, "_AAAHHH!"_ he screamed.

Erin took the full impact of the blow he was sent sliding back on his feet, his boots squeaked liked tires along the floor. However Erin didn't feel no pain, rather he felt rejuvenated with energy. He crept open his eyes to see his hands covered in a yellow glow. In fact his whole body was glowing yellow, "Feliz, are you doing this!?" Erin asked in surprise.

Lindiwe observed in awe at the sudden replenishment of Erin's aura.

"_I ugh, how- wha- when di- WHAT!" _Feliz stammered. "_ENGLISH! Come on spit it out!" _Kore barked. "_We were out of aura so I freaked out and activated mine out of instinct ok!" _Feliz blurted.

The idea dawned on Erin, "I can use your guys's aura." Erin realized looking at his yellow glowing arm. Hugo to had an idea, "_Quick everyone activate your aura!" _Hugo ordered.

The yellow aura began to mix colors with red, purple, and green. The light that surrounded Erin glowed brighter before suddenly bursting like a flash bang causing Lindiwe to cover her eyes.

When the light dimmed, Erin was covered in a bright white light. Lindiwe brought her arms down, "Incredible." she mumbled . All of his personalities were giving Erin their aura, and as for Erin, well, he's never felt better. "Hohohooo, This feels amazing! I've never felt stronger!" he said pounding his chest.

Lindiwe looked at Erin again with a new idea, "Let's test that." she said walking over to a wrack of samurai swords and pulled off the black and gold one.

***SHHHHHINK!***

The blade sang as it drew from its sheath.

Erin made an 'O' face as he looked at the sword, "Oh boy."

***SWISH!***

***SLASH!***

***STAB!***

This went on for several minutes until Lindiwe stopped and sheathed her sword. Erin stood there smugly with his or their, or his and their aura still intact.

Lindiwe put the sword back on the wall and smiled, "Ok smartass, you can drop the aura now." she said, but Erin had other plans, "Actually I'm going to do something be right back!" he zoomed out of the dojo and out of the training room faster than he's ever ran before.

Erin did the outdoor tree obstacle ten times, and ran the mountain stairs twice before tuckering out on the living room couch.

* * *

The day after the fight with Rhino, Samantha had woken up to find herself in her bunk bed, and to her side was none other than Damien Woods asleep in a chair against the wall, "Heeey." she croaked with a tired smile. Woods popped out of his slumber and rubbed his eyes, "SAMANTHA! How are you feeling?" he rushed to her bedside.

Samantha tried sitting up, "I'm-AAHH!" she held her chest in pain and plopped back down on the bed. "Yeah maybe not do that quite yet." Woods suggested. Samantha sighed, "What happened exactly?" Samantha asked rubbing her bruise. "Well after you took one hell of a beating and got knocked out, I took you back here. You've been asleep for six-teen hours." he explained. "SIX-TEEN HOURS-AAHH!" Samantha sat up only to plop back down from the pain. "Samantha take it easy now, you just got out of one of the most intense fights with Rhino this camp has ever seen." Woods explained. Samanta realized something, "Wait how are you here then?! You should be training!" she practically barked at him. "It's ok it's ok, the lieutenant let me stay with you. He didn't want you to be left unattended." Woods explained. Samantha let out a sigh of relief, "Oh thank goodness, I didn't want you getting in trouble for me." she explained. "Well I figured you want some company to take your mind off the pain." Woods said.

Samantha activated her aura and sat up without much pain. "That works to, also I didn't know how to do buns, so I just tucked all your hair behind your head. Like a pillow." Woods pointed out. Samantha felt behind her, "Oh, thank you." she said. After a moment of silence Woods spoke again, "You know, that was pretty cool with the hair and all." Woods complemented. "Oh thanks. Yeah, hehehe. Funny story about that actually. Lets just say that when I was a little girl, I really didn't want a haircut, and before those scissors could take a strand off my head my hair just came alive and attacked everyone around me. HAHAHA! It was hilarious more than it was scary, hahaha." Samantha explained with amusement. Woods gave a low chuckle of his own, Samantha then asked, "So what's your semblance?" she questioned with excitement to hear his story.

Woods held his breath and rubbed the back of his head, "Well... you see I-"

***BAM!***

The doors to the barracks were kicked open, cutting off Woods mid-sentence and turning both of their heads. A huge figure stepped through the doors, "THERE SHE IS!" Rhino thrilled out.

"Rhino!" Samantha shouted and attempted to get out of bed and in a defensive position. Woods pushed her back down, "Woah woah woah! Settle down he's not looking for a fight." Woods calmed her down.

Samantha looked at Rhino, "What are you doing here?" Samantha asked sternly.

"Oh come ooon your not even a little happy to see me." Rhino said with a big toothy smile. Woods spoke next, "He came by every now and then to check up on you." he explained. "Hehe yea, and love boy here didn't leave your side for a minute." Rhino said amused. "R-Rhino that didn't need to be said!" Woods said flustered as a tint of red glowed off his face. Samantha looked at her bed sheets a bit flushed and pushed some loose hair around her ear with a smile, "Well I'm glad you stayed, thanks." they looked at each other.

Rhino just looked between them back and forth, "*cough* *cough* Well look I just wanted to say that that was the best fight I've had in a looong time! We should spar again sometime, just for fun!" he suggested. Samantha snapped back into reality and looked at Rhino, "O-oh ugh m-maybe, I'm not sure I can live through a second fight with you." Samantha said. Rhino raised his hands as if saying 'come on', "Don't get soft on me now Bun, your gonna make a great addition to the team." he mentioned.

Samantha perked up, "The lieutenant's still letting me on the team?"

"Indeed I am." A voice from the entrance beat Rhino and Woods in responding.

All three of them stood at attention with Samantha taking a bit longer to get there.

"At ease." Chad commanded, and they all loosened up a bit. "Samantha you showed true heart and skill in that ring yesterday, you have your flaws, but with proper training they won't be a problem anymore." Chad explained. Samantha was taken aback, "W-wow, I don't know what to say." She said smiling.

Chad shook his head, "You don't gotta say anything, just get your ass to the shooting range if you don't feel like passing out, you two go now." he ordered to Woods and Rhino, they stood at attention and saluted. Chad did the same and they departed. Before Chad left he turned back to Samantha, "Oh and one more thing…" he said raising his index finger, "take a shower." he finished.

Samantha laughed to herself, "Thanks for the advice." and with that Chad left. Samantha waited a few seconds before raising her arm and sniffed her armpit, "Bleh!" she gagged.

How could Woods stay with her when she smelled like that?

* * *

Erin woke up in his bed completely sore,"Aaaaaaaaahhhhhhh!" he groaned sitting up, "This sucks." he finished dryly. _"You forgot to stretch after your workout you fool."_ Hugo stated. "Well good morning to you to Hugo." Erin replied sarcastically. _"Good morning!" _Feliz bubbled in joy. Erin smiled, "Hehe, good morning Feliz." he rubbed his eyes and stood up.

When he walked out, he saw Lindiwe behind the bar sipping her coffee until she noticed him, "Good morning, you slept well." she said. Erin made his way to the stools, "Well no nightmares last night, and I slept earlier than usual." he said taking a seat. "And in your workout uniform." Lindiwe pointed with her mug. Erin looked down at himself and wrinkled his nose at the smell, "Right, well, it was comfy." he lied. _"Nice save, headass." _Kore spoke with sarcasm. Lindiwe laughed a bit before taking another sip.

After a moment of silence they both spoke, "I'm sor-" they both laughed at the sudden coincidence.

"You first." Erin said gestured to her.

Lindiwe looked at her reflection in her coffee before setting the mug down near her. "I'm sorry I used your Uncle to make you fight yesterday. My intention wasn't to upset you I just wanted-", "-to drive me. I get it, it's fine. I still think about them when I'm training." Erin cut her off, but he shuffled around in his seat and tapped the wood counter like he was thinking of something. Hugo wondered, _"What's on your mind Erin?"_ he asked.

Erin remade eye contact with her, "I could…tell you a bit... about my past if you want." Erin suggested. Kore was shocked, _"Wow wow wait really? Isn't this a bit soon?" _he asked. Feliz replied, _"I think now's a great time, she's our friend." _he said. _"Well of course you'd say that, Hugo, what do you say?" _Kore asked. Chestnut spoke before Hugo could, _"I say give her whatever she wants. Hehehe!"_, _"Not you asshole!"_. _"Enough!"_ Hugo shouted stopping Kore and Chestnuts arguing, _"I can not concentrate with that foolish bickering!" _he stated, then let out a sigh, _"I think we should trust her if we are to learn more of this place, and about her." _he stated making Kore sigh, _"Whatever."_.

Lindiwe perked up, "Wait!" she shouted making Erin jump, "I need more coffee! You want something?" she asked. Erin thought, "Uuuugh green tea?".

Lindiwe nodded and got to work on drinks. A few minutes later a steaming mug of tea rested in front of him, "Thanks." he said blowing on the drink. Lindiwe leaned over the counter on her elbows and a cup of coffee with eager ears to listen.

Erin started, "*sigh* Well… I didn't have parents growing up, and my Uncle didn't say much about them. Only that they were working people, which I guess means they didn't have time for me." Erin said in disappointment. Lindiwe put a hand on his, "I'm sorry, no boy should have to go through that." she said with sympathy.

Erin shrugged, "I stopped caring a while ago, besides, I had my Uncle. Now at first I admit he wasn't the best Uncle, there was a lot of yelling and drinking… and occasional abuse. It was mainly my fault because he wasn't prepared for me to enter his life, but in time things got better for us. More lien came in and more food on the table set things back in working order, since then he's been nothing but kind hearted, and promised to never fall that low ever again." he explained. Lindiwe smiled, "Well at least you had your personalities help get you through it." she mentioned.

Erin ran his hand through his hair, "Oh man you have no idea." he went on to explain how each of his personalities came into his life and the impact they've made since, after all they were his **closest** friends. Lindiwe listened intensely, mainly to the parts on his personalities, taking many mental notes on what triggered them to come out. There were laughs, sympathy, anger, and many other emotions stirred into the pot of his story. Lindiwe would put on a serious face when Chad would come up in the story which didn't go unnoticed. After about three hours of storytelling Erin finally finished. "That's quite the story Erin. Thank you for sharing with me." she said softly with a warm smile.

"Yeah no problem. Thanks for listening. It's usually been Uncle Matt and Yana that I could make eye contact and talk deeply to, but now…" Erin paused to search for the words as a small lump began forming in his throat, "... I guess I just really needed someone to talk to face to face about them." he said choking up a little.

Kore spoke, _"Oh well, sorry to disappoint you." _he said dryly. Feliz replied, _"Kore don't be like that." _he got on to him.

Lindiwe came around the bar and hugged him. "I… how does something like this just happen? How could Ihave let them down so badly?!" Erin let out sob, "They both did ***sob*** so much for me ***sob*** and I couldn't even save them!" Erin broke into sobs, but Lindiwe couldn't hear this anymore as she took him by the shoulders and shook him a bit, "Do you hear yourself!? You think you could have stopped that Grimm attack?! You think any boy your age would have ran into those fires to try and save the ones you love? You act like you killed them yourself, like the blood is on your hands!" she shouted.

Erin's personalities didn't say anything, even Chestnut thought to just let the moment happen.

Erin pushed her hands off him, "But I just stood there! I just stood there because...because… ***sob***.". Lindiwe didn't lay a hand on him, "Because you were scared, and why wouldn't you be, let me ask you. If you could be in there place, would you?" she asked. Erin nodded as he wiped his runny nose. "Ok, and would you want them to grieve over you and let the guilt you feel hold them down?" she continued. Erin shook his head, "No." he croaked. "So how do you think they would feel if they saw you like this. Holding yourself down over them, they'd think that they did this to you, is that how you want them to feel? Like they're responsible for holding you down!".

Erin snapped his head up, "No!" he said quickly with red puffy eyes and tear stains on his cheeks. "Then when you come out of that room you be ready to avenge them, rather than grieve over them." she spoke softly, and from past experience. Hugo agreed, "_You need to listen to her Erin."_ he said which Kore agreed with, "_Yeah man, I know it's tough but… you can't be a huntsmen and let deaths of innocents hold you down. It'll only get annoying."_ he tried saying kindly making Hugo sigh. "_Well I wouldn't say it all like that, but I miss them to, so much. Especially , but I'm still trying to stay positive for you guys. I didn't want to have to be the downer of the group so I pushed out the bad feelings to keep things good."_ Feliz explained positively. Chestnut decided against better judgement to speak his opinion, "_There's worse things that could happen, we could be in another Great War!"_ he exclaimed. They didn't really know what to say to that , so everyone remained silent

Erin went to the sink and splashed some water on his face, he hovered over the sink as water dripped from his chin and nose, "I don't want to forget them." he spoke quietly. Lindiwe stood behind him, "You don't have to forget them, but instead of keeping those memories in your mind, keep them here." she placed a hand over her heart, "And let them be the beat in your heart that keeps you living." she finished.

Erin said nothing for a moment before crashing into Lindiwe for another hug. Luckily the counter was there to catch her from the sudden impact. Lindiwe was caught off guard by his speed, maybe he was learning something from her after all. They stood like that for a while, Lindiwe stroked his hair the whole time until Erin pushed off her, "I have an idea to take my mind off this!" he exclaimed with a smile. Lindiwe laughed a bit at the sudden change of mood, "What is it?" she asked amused.

Erin pondered for a bit before finally making up his mind, "You want to meet one of them? Well another one of them?" he asked.

Lindiwe gasped, "Would I!? I'd be honored!" she gleamed clasping her hands.

Kore was a bit scared at her mood change, "_She's usually more calm than this, a little scary honestly."_.

"_I'll go!"_ Feliz shouted in joy, But everyone else wanted a chance in control to.

"_What no I'm goin!"_

"_I'm clearly more proper for this occasion than any of you fools!"_

"_That's bullshit!"_

"_I need another chance at wooing her!"_

"_That didn't really work well last time Chestnut."_

"_Yeah and you think were gonna let your sorry ass talk to her again?!"_

It was an outrageous argument for who gets control, however Erin already selected who would get it. Erin took his seat while Lindiwe was on the other side of the counter. Lindiwe felt like a little girl, practically jumping up in down, with dinner plate eyes and a wide open smile.

Erin's eyes suddenly began to twitch rapidly from brown… to yellow.

"HELLOOOOO!" Feliz howled in utter delight, "It's so good to finally talk to you, I'm Feliz by the way." he introduced himself with an extended hand. Lindiwe stared at the change in eye color before taking his hand eagerly, "It's a pleasure to make your acquaintance Feliz, you already know my name." she shook his hand.

"Yep!" Feliz chirped, "You got a very pretty name." he complimented. "Oh thank you." Lindiwe replied a bit gushy.

"_Daaaamn Chestnut he's got better game than you! Hahaha!" _Kore actually laughed in irony. "_*sigh* This'll be a while."_ Chestnut replied in dissatisfaction. Erin had to point out something, "_Ok you guys just like, switched roles for a minute. Kore acted like Chestnut and vise versa."_ he explained. Hugo hushed them, _"Quiet you fools! Let Feliz concentrate." _he stated.

"So Feliz, I hear you're responsible for keeping Erin… happy?" she asked with a raised eyebrow. Feliz smiled, "Yeah, well I was, but he doesn't exactly need me all the time anymore since he got his friends. S now I usually try and keep us all together." he explained.

_"Well now hold on Feliz, you still always make me laugh most of the time when things are a bit under the weather, so technically you do still keep me happy." _Erin explained feeling a bit bad.

"Awww thanks Erin!" Feliz cooed. Lindiwe widened her eyes a smidge, "Wait, Erin's in your head now?" she asked curiously. "Yep! Well actually it's his head but I'm kind of… borrowing it? Yeah Hugo can tell you all about it later. A lot better than I can." Feliz explained making Lindiwe hold her chin in thought. Feliz interrupted her train of thought, "But since you know about me how about I ask something now." Feliz suggested.

Lindiwe compiled, "Go ahead." she gestured with her hand to ask away. "Who built this place?" he asked with a slight serious tone.

Kore spoke, _"Ooo that's a good question."_. _"Hush I need to hear this." _Hugo replied.

Lindiwe didn't respond instantly, she thought about trying to change the subject, but if she didn't continued to keep secrets. She might lose Erin's trust, so she explained, "This place was built by my father as a haven for training his own group of huntsmen to help combat the White Fang." she lied about why. "Who are the White Fang exactly?" Feliz asked.

Erin had an idea, _"Aren't they fanus terrorists, from what the papers say, they've gotten real violent lately?"_. Hugo replied, _"There supposed to be a fanus civil rights movement, but recently they've been committing acts of terrorism with raids on Schnee cargo trains and dust robberies."_ he added. _"Nerd."_ Kore said.

"Yeah I kinda forgot." Feliz stated to them while Lindiwe explained, "They were once a peaceful organization that led by Ghira Belladonna, but six months ago he stepped down and Sienna Khan took the throne. The speaker of the White Fang is Adam Taurus now, and from what I can tell he's not bad but he's not so good either, time can only tell what he'll do in the future." she continued. Hugo was sucking in all the info he could get about White Fang. Erin nor any of his personalities heard of the White Fang since those rumors of White Fang agents in the village was disclosed.

"The White Fang attacks got worse, and when the police and local huntsmen couldn't stop them. My father decided to take the initiative and gathered eight of his fellow friends from Shade academy who felt the same drive he did, moved to Vale, founded this land, built his base of operations, and trained formed his own team to combat the White Fang army. They ran many successful missions together, and they had a good thing going. I was still growing up with my mother and continued my last two years of training at Signal Academy in Vale to which I would soon enroll in Beacon." she explained.

Feliz had a sparkle in his eyes at the amazing story, "What happened to them?" he asked like a child in bed wanting the end to their bedtime story. Lindiwe pondered for a moment on what to say, "Lot of fanus began to call them racists, vigilantes, and that they were disturbing the peace. So they were arrested them and took them to an Atlas prison, where my father was killed by White Fang agents. My mother and I were devastated when we heard the news, after doing some research I found some clues that led me here, but I never continued his goal because I wanted to make one of my own." she looked down in sadness while Feliz gave her a look of sympathy. "But not everything went as according to plan as you can tell." she finished.

"I shouldn't have asked, I'm sorry." Feliz apologized. Lindiwe looked up at him, "No… no no darling, it's ok, you didn't do anything wrong. I just haven't talked about my past with anyone in a while so… old memories is all." Lindiwe reassured by rubbing the back of Felizs hand. They both shared a hug and talked about how they each got the desire to become huntsmen.

An hour of talking later it was late and Lindiwe ended the conversation, "Well it's noon now, can you put Erin back in control?" she asked kindly. Feliz nodded and put Erin back in control. Erin gave a loud long yawn with a stretch as his back popped a couple times, "Ah man it felt good to do that." he stretched as he made his way to his room, "Oh one more thing before. Lindiwe gave a hum to say 'go on'. "What were you doing in the village the day of the attack? Did you know I was there?" he asked with some suspicion.

Lindiwe just smiled innocently, "Grocery run." she chirped, "Good night Erin, thanks again for sharing with me this morning, it meant a lot." she deeply meant it.

Erin just gave a bright smile like Feliz would, "No problem, but I should be thanking you… you showed me how to cope, and that blaming myself was only holding me back. Today will be a better day." finished as he shut his door.

After a few seconds of waiting to make sure Erin didn't come back out Lindiwe slammed both of her hands into her face like she was about to cry. She actually did want to cry, but not just that, she wanted to scream and punch something out of anger. She didn't want to lie to Erin, but she had to. What she said about her father building this place and forming a team wasn't a lie, but why he did it was. The White Fang is a little threat compared to what my father and his team were really up against. Her father didn't die in prison, he died trying to kill the **WITCH** of Grimm, but he had failed.

While she was still in Signal, she had let curiosity get the best of her and sought out an explanation of his sudden disappearance. After a while she found this place, but she didn't want to continue any further in trying to get answers, in fear that she could share the same faith as her father and leave her mother in only more misery than when father left them. It wasn't until she learned the truth at Beacon had she moved to the village of Bergseite to find this place again and continued to research her father's secret mission.

She was horrified to find more evidence on what Ozpin had said was true. Her father had been using this mountain to store information on the relics in each kingdom, the seasonal maidens that had inhuman powers, and the how the Grimm, who were said to be mindless uncontrollable beasts, had a master.

Lindiwe thought to continue what her father had started, and put together her own team. Two of her teammates from Beacon had left shortly after she told them what she knew. However she had Chad and her other best friends Summer, Raven, Qrow, and Tie. Half of team LECH (leech) and half the members of team STRQ (Stark) banned together with Lindiwe on her mission.

Apparently Raven and Qrow had already known about the secret war which came as a huge surprise, while Summer came along because she loved Lindiwe enough as a friend to stick by her side. Tie had to tend to his and Summers daughter Ruby, but Qrow said it wouldn't be a good idea for him to come along. So it was just Lindiwe, Chad, Summer, and Raven on this mission.

God she wished she could have stopped herself. There was a trap sprung by bandits, and then the Grimm came.

Summer died.

Since then she didn't bother with her father's secret mission. There was probably a reason it was 'secret' any way.

She tried living a life with Chad, but soon the gravitating pressure became too much to bare, and she came back here, to make sure that these secrets stayed hidden along with herself even if it broke her heart to leave Chad. Chad desperately wanted to help, but she refused to let him.

She had read stories of ancient worries of people with eyes of silver that scared even the Grimm. People who could split themselves into a group of more people from their mind. And maidens that had magical abilities people only dreamed of having.

If she had one of these warriors, then she would consider trying to this mission again.

Only time would tell Lindiwe if Erin was fit for the hardships of this knowledge. Lying to Erin brought more pain to her heart than she thought, it burned and stung like rubbing alcohol on a cut. But if it meant keeping it all a secret, then she'd do it.

For now.

* * *

Samantha had showed off and put on fresh clothes before running four hundred yards to the shooting range where she could already here Chad giving instructions.

"One at a time, you'll each get a score for accuracy and speed, understood?" Chad ordered

"YES SIR!" his men shouted at attention.

Samantha noticed Woods and walked over to him, "Hey Wood's." she patted him on the shoulder. "Oh hey! How ya feeling?" he asked. "I just ran like, a few hundred miles to get here, so I'm doing pretty good. What's going on here?" Samantha asked nodding towards Chad. Woods pointed toward the shooting range as a soldier took the first turn, he loaded his rifle and took a stance. The shooting range consisted of sandbags, a destroyed building that looked like a breaking sandcastle and was dotted with bullet holes, and five moving targets.

"Simple really, just a shooting course that tests you on accuracy and speed." Woods explained. Samantha smiled, "Well my mom took me hunting all the time. I could shoot a turkey from one hundred and fifty yards." she bragged pointing her thumb at herself. Woods gave his own smirk as to say 'is that so', "Well now I've been handling guns since I was six, if anyone here is better at shooting it's me." he pointed at himself. Samantha put her hands on her hips and turned her whole body towards his, things just got serious… in a playful way, "Is that a challenge Damien Woods." She said shooting him daggers.

Woods crossed his arms and gave a cocky grin as he cocked an eyebrow, "So I take it you accept then?" he asked in amusement. "Loser buys lunch at Lagarto's Cafe!" Samantha stated. "Deal!" they both shook hands and waited eagerly for their turn.

The shooting range was programmed with over a thousand different patterns so you couldn't expect what was coming, you just had to have fast reflects. Rhino had the slowest time yet, "PUNY RIFLE IS TOO SMALL FOR ME!" he growled before slamming the rifle on the table and stomping off. Everyone who was in his way scurried out of it, he seemed angry enough to have steam blowing from his ears. Chad rolled his eyes before calling for the next shooter.

Woods and Samantha literally pushed and shoved each other to be next, but it was Samantha who got her hand on the rifle first, "HA!" she yelled in victory. Woods just snapped his fingers with a scowl, "Damn." he mumbled.

Chad just pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed as he shook his head.

Samantha checked the rifle and took a position, she gave Chad the go ahead, and the first target popped up.

***BANG!***

Then another came up.

***BANG!***

Two came up in sync.

***BANG!* *BANG!***

They kept rising, and they kept falling. She quickly loaded in another clip and shot the targets in the building, then the moving targets.

The targets stopped rising, and it was over. The time read thirteen point sixteen seconds, everyone gave a round of applause and whistles to the best score so far.

She placed the rifle in Woods hands who was just behind, "Good luck." she winked with a sly smug grin. "Hmm, not bad, not bad." Woods shrugged in a cocky way before leading the rifle and cocking it back. He set to extra clips on the table standing for a fast reload.

Woods gave the go ahead, and the course began.

***BANG!***

***BANG!***

***BANG!***

***BANG!***

***BANG!***

Targets rose and fell like flies hitting a zapper. He kept count of the bullets in his clip that way by the time the old clip fell he snapped a new clip in, cocked back, and began shooting again.

The time stopped at an impressive twelve point fifty six seconds.

The crowd applauded louder at the time as Woods set the gun down and looked at Samantha with a shit eating stomped at the ground and cursed under her breath.

They both playfully picked on each other until the next shooter walked up.

Everyone went silent, even the air seemed to stiffen as this guy walked past the starting gazes.

Samantha was surprised she didn't notice him earlier, what he was wearing stood completely out from every other person.

This mysterious person wore a midnight black SafeGuard body vest with black cargo pants, black fingerless gloves and boots. His helmet resembled a samurai helmet which covered his face with a mask of black and silver. Black glass eye lenses seemed like an endless void you could lose yourself staring in them, and what made them pop out was a thin lining of silver paint around them. Three silver points protruded from the front of the helmet with the middle one being longer, like a silver crown. The silver points connected to one singular silver point that traveled down the forehead and stopped past the bridge of the nose. A sleek silver faceguard (think of Optimus Prime's face guard) covered his mouth.

His black samurai like armor covered his arms, legs, armor hung around his waist like a short dress, his shoulders had three layers of armor plating that weren't stacked on each other completely so it covered more of the shoulder(like Yatsuhashi), and his whole body was lined with silver.

No one said a word, not even him as he walked up to the table, it was like the whole village had went silent when he made his presence known. His armor seemed clanky, but it didn't even make a whisper of noise.

He picked up the rifle and examined it, but set it to the side. Chad narrowed his eyes with cross arms, he would have said a rifle was required, but he wanted to see where he was going with this. When Chad had read his bio, it stated that he was from Mistral where he wasn't exactly a guns person, so to see him step up to take a turn definitely caught his attention.

The samurai armored person opened several pouches on his SafeGuard vest and took out several shurikens. He had bo shurikens, hira shurikens, and kurumaken variation of shurikens, but when he got to his cargo pants he began pulling out throwing knifes. He laid the shurikens and knives neatly across the table.

Upon looking at all the deadly steel blades he had, everyone shivered at the thought of being on the receiving side of them.

The samurai readied himself with two shurikens in hand before he looked at chad with those black hole eyes that could suck the soul out of a man, and nodded.

The first target rose but fell half a second later, same with the next.

Everyone dropped their jaws at the sheer speed and velocity of the blades and the samurai. It's like one second he was as still as a statue, then he was throwing a shuriken the next. His hands traveled faster than sound, and his shurikens faster than light as they whistled through the air before making contact with a target. His accuracy was on point as he threw some like frisbees, they still managed to hit their target perfectly. He was throwing shurikens before targets had popped up, like he knew the pattern. He used three throwing knives at the same time to hit three targets that fell in sync.

Once it was over the scoreboard read nine point twenty six seconds.

Everyone applauded at the amazing performance while Woods and Samantha looked at each other with jaws hitting the floor. Chad gave a couple claps himself at a potential addition to his team.

The samurai said nothing as he made his way to join the rest of the viewers for the next shooter.

* * *

After gathering clothes for a shower, Erin sat on his bed for a second and took a deep relaxing breath. Feliz spoke, "_You feeling better Erin?"_ he asked. "Yeah… yeah I'm good now. Sorry about that guys." Erin said. Hugo replied, "_Apologies are not necessary, we just need to know that your feelings are no longer weighing you down." _he explained. "_I guess I was being a bit of a dick, at least more than usual. I do miss them, I just don't like being reminded about them. I don't like being sad is all."_ Kore explained feeling a bit bad about the whole situation. Erin nodded, "I appreciate that Kore. And don't worry, I'm sure the answer to my semblance will come soon.". "_YAY! Friendship reestablished!"_ Feliz announced in glee making Erin lightly chuckle. Chestnut spoke next, _I think the aura thing we figured out today means were making progress in our abilities, don't ya think?"_ Chestnut mentioned.

"Yeah." Erin thought of that moment with a smile.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

"OH MY GOD!" Erin shouted as he shot up.

Lindiwe continued to brood for a bit about lying to Erin and being reminded of a past she had long began to forget about, but then she heard Erin scream from his room. She ran to the door of his room and was about to open it when Erin suddenly burst out the room and almost collided into her, "Erin! What happened!?" Lindiwe worried.

"I KNOW HOW TO USE MY SEMBLANCE!"


	7. Chapter 7

Personal Split

A RWBY fanfic story

By Donovan Ray Castillo

Chapter 7

**Many years ago**

The deserts of Vacuo were may seem empty of human settlement. However there is always a place for a settlement to be built and stand strong. The Oasis village gets its name as the largest recorded oasis in Vacuo. What makes it so unique is that it's located in a wide open canyon that stretches for miles without a known endpoint. It was declared the capital of Vacuo decades before the Great War, as well as the location of Shade academy, the huntsmen academy for all of Vacuo.

Oasis was built along a stream of crystal clear water that flowed from the underground cave system which tunneled through the crust under the mesas and mountains of Vacuo. Some parts of the river were shallow riffles while others were deep channels; those areas are off limits for kids.

The same canyon that houses the Oasis village runs through these mountain areas. The canyon is abundant with life, palm trees kept the ground cool during the blazing sunny day. Springs and reservoirs kept the village out of drought. Flowers decorate the grass while water lilies floated gently on the water. People grew rice, sugar cane, tomatoes, grapes for fresh made wine, and more.

The desert maybe one sandy color, but Oasis bursts with vibrant colors from plants, flowers, clothes, the river, and even the houses. Some of the abode brick housing was built along the river, but most were built along the canyon walls and dug in. The abode mug was dyed though to give in a pleasant color rather than the ugly light brown it had.

Some buildings were built from actual stone and other materials imported from the kingdoms. One of those buildings was indeed, Shade academy.

Shade academy was built off a limited amount of resources, but years of hard work molded it into what it is now. The whole campus rests in the biggest circular gap in the canyon. However most of it was blown out to make space for the campus, but nothing is wasted as the rock was used for construction, and the results were fanamonal. The entrance to the campus was by boat, and it was like rowing into a palace of gold and gems, the arch stood grand above the river, Vacuo's symbole was embedded in gold and stone, red stoned towers with tops of crystal glass arose from the campus hot sandy grounds. In fact, at a certain time of the day, the sun was angled just right, that when the rays reflected off every glass top of the towers, the shimmer would piece together the Vacuo symbol in the plaza, now that took some real engineering and time.

The campus took a year and a half to construct due to the main river cutting the land they were building on in two. It expanded three miles in length and two miles in width at a bit of a downward slope. Rock pools acted like a staircase for the river water to travel down before flowing back into a stream. The buildings were built from colored abode, rock, wood, and iron. A large bridge was designed that went over the river, but high enough for small boats to pass through. Thirteen days after the campus was complete a major storm hit Oasis and flooded the river which in turn flooded the campus.

Plans were made to dig out two man made river beds that stretched around the entire campus and down to where the river continued at the end of the campus which worked perfectly. They were to only be used as a storm drainage system if flooding were to happen again.

Vacuo has other villages scattered under the blazing heat waves of the sun, from the bronze sandy dunes to red stoned mountain ranges. However Oasis was the largest, most thriving village to stand, and it had a sun bright future ahead of it.

One of the abode houses that alined the canyon wall sheltered a sleeping thirteen year old girl with black braids, three of which were colored, a red tank top, tan shorts, gold ear-rings, a pair of goggles on her forehead, and a tiger tooth necklace. The girl stirred in her sleep as the shining sun seemed to poke at her eyes, "Mmmmmmm." she hummed with tiredness. After laying in bed a few more minutes she slung her legs lazily over the bed and rose her body like a mummy, "Uuuuggghhh!" she groaned like one to. She crept open her tired orange eyes as she walked up to her hand made window and looked out to see the ground moving in a blob of colors from the clothing of pedestrians, camels pulled carts of spices, harvested crops, and water. She rubbed the tiredness out of her eyes with her fist before stretching her arms and letting out a cute squeak of a yawn. For some reason she felt like she was forgetting something, but just shrugged it off and made her way to the living room.

Their home was small and in a mountain so it wasn't the neatest, jagged rock covered the walls and ceiling, but the floor was more flat and smooth for walking on. They had old cushioned couches but no beds; they just used hameks, blankets, towels, and potato sacks filled with cotton for pillows to sleep. They also have vases, jars, bowels, baskets, spoons n' forks, glass wear, jewelry and much more. Basically everything they had was either grown or hand made.

She snatched a cactus pear from the bowl of fruit on the kitchen table, but before she walked off, her eyes landed on a scrap of paper on the table. The fruit crunched in her mouth as she slurped up a drip of juice that ran down from her lips. Her eyes scanned over the letter before she went saucer eyed with a gasped and threw a coughing fit, "*cough!* *cough!* *cough!* DAMIT!" she choked as she tripped on her feet trying to sprint.

She barged into the bathroom and quickly slathered on some nice smelling citrus spray on her skin, brushed her teeth, wrinsed, and comed water through her hair. She looked at her clothing in a beautifully made mirror and shrugged at her appearance before looking at her watch and cringed, "Shit! Shit! Shit!" she repeated sprinting out of the bathroom, but skirted to a stop in front of her little brother. His head was shaved, but had a little hair growing, his skin was darker than hers, she was a dark tanned color, "Hey Banko gotta go love you bye!" she whizzed past him while he just looked at her like this was normal.

The girl made a final stop to her room to retrieve her most prized possession. In the corner of her room rested a sleek long silver board with bulky, wiery boosters in the back, and to circular pads underneath it. She snatched it and stormed into the kitchen to go through one of the cabinets and pull out a jar of jam with a spoon with her empty hand. She stuffed them into her pockets and went for the door.

Their house was built high up along the canyon wall, so she only had a few steps of ground before falling over the edge. It was either take the dirt path and ladders down, or the fun way. She backed up as far as she could, through her living room and into her kitchen.

She took a deep breath as she pulled her goggles over her eyes and quickly adjusted them before accelerating toward the open door. The sun covered her with warmth before the cool breeze of her free falling splashed on her body. She quickly placed the board on her feet and flipped the switch, but the board didn't turn on.

"Oh shit!" she freaked as the river below her got closer. She flipped the switch several more times, but to no avail. She was mere seconds from taking a swim, and while it wouldn't kill her, she would be both pissed and extremely late. She gave a whack to the side of the booster box and gave a hopeful flip of the switch.

***VVOOOOOOOMM!* **

The board hummed with power as yellow lights turned on and the metal disks under the board began to rotate with a purple glow. She smiled as she pulled up on the board and stepped on a foot activated toggle switch. The boosters burned to life as they blasted the board forward and hovered above the lake. Water splashed from the river at the girl nearly plunging into the flowing stream which startled half of the people walking along the river.

"WOOHOO!" she raised her arms up in triumph, her braids whipped wildly behind her as she leaned forward for a more aerodynamic speed force. She pressed foot switch to give more power to the boosters which accelerated the hoverboard over the water. The speed left bubbles in the water, she leaned over and put her fingers in the water. Droplets shot up in the air and sparkled into a small rainbow. She looked up to see two Vacuo airships fly over head, she loved racing the silhouette, so she increased her speed. Vacuo air ships had a sphere hull with three wings around it, they were definitely military. Vacuo may be split up into tribes, but they act as one by sharing supplies and military power after the treaty to their civil war decades before she was born.

Many of the pedestrians shook their heads with an all knowing smile at who the girl on that hoverboard. The girl shot a smile and quick waves at the familiar faces. She caught up between the silhouettes, only problem was the upcoming bridge in front of her with people and a camel carrying cargo on it. She thought quick by stepping on the switch to accelerate and once a few yards away leapt high in the air, the people on the bridge, even the camel, looked up in awe at the girls who was flashing them a smile and thumbs up before her board as if on cue, appeared under her.

She stuck the landing with a wobble, but quickly regained her balance, "HELL YEAH!" she cheered while turning around and giving a two fingered salute to the slacked jawed viewers behind her. The silhouettes won this round, but at least now she could enjoy the scenery, the mighty tall palm trees, bushels of flowers, people in their stalls selling all sorts of things from food to vases all the way to dirt bikes. Any motor vehicles were usually used for traveling in between villages, Oasis being the hot spot for trading goods because of its location in the middle of the tribe land borders, which is why Oasis was the fastest growing village in the continent.

The river began to get curvy up ahead with lefts and rights. She passed by a few boats along the way before coming up on the rice farm. She slowed down wave at her working friends out in the wet fields. Lot of people either knew here by name or they know her as the girls with the hoverboard.

***VROOOM!* *VROOOM!***

She swore she heard someone revving an engine, and to her excitement she saw three dirt bikers on the dirt trail to her left. She never knew them in person or what they looked like, but the first time they met was by racing. Ever since it's been a tradition to race when the bikers and her had their rides. Luckily the trail they were on were specifically for automobiles, so people had to walk on the sides.

She smiled as she accelerated while turning left and shot out of the river and right next to the bikers. They looked at her blankly with their black lensed helmets and nodded while she smiled and gave a thumbs up. The bikers revved their engines and sped up as she did the same push on the foot switch. It's not like hoverboards were that uncommon, people sold them around here, she just had an awesome dad was all. She tried passing the first biker, but he kept cutting her off, so she went left, then made a hard right to accelerate in front of him as she gave a wink.

Many people wiped the dust that the race had blown up out of their faces.

The second biker looked back at her like he was hatching a plan, but he didn't know her planned out tactic. There was a large rusted truck to her left just parked there with a ramp. She went all the way to the left and increased her speed and bunny hopped onto the ramp. Next thing she knew she was soaring through the sky for a good few seconds before the gravity dust caught her landing.

The last and final biker was just in her grasp, she leaned forward and was slowly gaining on him. However her turn was coming up, she couldn't catch up in time to beat him.

"Damit." she cursed under her breath after making her turn. They won this round.

The terrain began to slope downward, so she took it nice and easy to avoid serious tumbling. She came upon a fence with a sign.

**WARNING, DUST MINE UP AHEAD. AUTHORIZED PERSONNEL ONLY.**

She ignored it and lifted the hinge and pushed the gate open with her hip. In front of her was the mouth of a cave while to her left were two wooden buildings with metal roofs, one which was the resting center, and the other was where the manager and other head workers held meetings or kept important data of the mine.

Miners walked in with empty carts and out with cart full of rock and water dust. Trucks were loaded up with crates of dust and were shipped off.

Vacuo was the number one exporter of rock dust in Remnant. It helps keep good relations with the Kingdoms since the Great War.

The cave roared as the sound of electronic tools boomed from its mouth. Workers went in and out of the cave like ants in a colony. She was well known to the other men and women that worked here by now to not be questioned about her age. She hid her board behind a rock like usual before continuing toward the busy mine.

Her father was one of the workers here, he doesn't mine anything because he's a huntsmen simply there to protect the workers from Grimm and other threats. Today she would once again be assisting her father with the training she had from her first two years of huntress training.

At the mouth of the cave was a rack of hard hats and vests that she had to put on in order to enter the mine. Welders were welding support beams for protection against possible cave collapse, railroad tracks were being used for carts to be pulled up full of dust crystals to be unloaded and sent back down to be refilled, and the elevator shaft went up and down with workers armed with pickaxes and power tools ready to work . As for her father, "LINDIWE!" her father's voice echoed through the cave despite the sound of welding. Young Lindiwe turned toward her crossed arm father, his rustic metal armor with ragged torn cloth that wrapped around his neck as a scarf and hoodie. "Heeeeey dad." Lindiwe gave a cheeky smile with a shy wave. Her father jogged up to her, "I can be upset at your lateness later, but right now I need your help, lets go!" he ordered in his deep Vacuan accent while patting her on the shoulder.

Lindiwe followed in pursuit in confusion, "Wait, what's going on?" Lindiwe asked with worry as they entered the elevator shaft. Her father pushed a button before the doors closed and took them down. Her father looked at her with seriousness, "A new opening has been discovered by our mining team. All dust mining on this level is at a stand still, I've already given orders to stand by and do not attempt breaching until I give the word." he explained. "So… WERE FINALLY GETTING SOME ACTION!" Lindiwe popped with joy. Her father placed a hand on her shoulder, "Remember your schools training and mine. You'll be fine." they smiled and shared a side hug despite their major size difference.

The elevator wobbled as it came to a stop, the gates opened to reveal men and women running back and forth to get everything prepared. The whole cave was lit up with battery lights and lanterns to reveal a cavern of stalagmites and stalactites, water dripped into pools of fresh clear water, and there were rock dust crystals spewing out from everywhere while water dust crystals poked out from the water pools.

One individual walked up with a lemon sour look on his face, his red nose looked like a potato and his gut hung over his belt, "ATSU!" he screamed. Her father Atsu sighed, "***sigh* **Here we go again.", he sounded exhausted from this guy. "My team is telling me you ordered them to stop working!" his face turned beat red from rage. Atsu and Lindiwe stepped out of the elevator, "I did not tell them to stop working, I just gave them a different task." he clarified. The guy cut Atsu off by getting in front of him, "Since when do you think you can just take command. The counsel gave ME this mine to be under MY control! Your just here for security and that's! IT!" he barked jabbing a finger into Atsu's armor.

Atsu narrowed his gaze as he grabbed a fist full of his shirt and yanked him to his face, Atsu's heated gaze melted through the managers 'tough guy' defense as he began to sweat from fear. "And the counsel gave ME permission to take that command from you if the mine was under threat of a potential danger!" he finished giving the man a good shove. The manager gulped hard before fixing his collar, he looked at Lindiwe, "What's she doing here?" he asked more calmly. "She's with me, don't worry about it." Atsu answered as he and Lindiwe ventured deeper into the cave where other workers were heading.

Workers had put up lanterns and flashlights all around the cracked rock wall. A few holes were busted into the wall to where you could clearly see that it was hollow on the other side. A few devices with blinking red lights dotted the wall, "The charges are set sir." a female fox fanus said. Atsu looked at her sternly, "Where are those taser nets?" he asked clearly upset. The miners instantly went to setting up a black thin netted taser trap in front of the cracked wall.

"As soon as we blow that wall, whatever is on the other side will be hitting that net first thing." Atsu explained to Lindiwe. "Everyone get to cover!" Atsu ordered, everyone complied as they found cover behind rocks or large stalagmite, and plugged their ears. Atsu was given the denatore, and after a few seconds of waiting-

***BOOM!***

Some dust blew back into the workers faces as the thunderous echo of the explosion dimmed. Once the dust settled down workers began to come from their cover along with Atsu and Lindiwe.

When Ravagers didn't come flying out like expected, one of the workers turned their helmet lights on and peered into the newly found hole. Seemed like another stalagmite and stalactite cave, the only strange thing about it were all the pink boulders that lined the floor.

Atsu looked closer as he squinted his eyes to notice they were moving. One of the boulders stood up to reveal long black eyes, mandibles, and large deadly sharp pinchers.

"MOLE CRABS! GET BACK!" Atsu screamed making everyone back away from the cave.

The mole crabs began to awake as the sound of a thousand crawling crab legs began to fill the cave. The first two ran into the taser next which knocked them out, but that made it safe for the dozens of other mole crabs to pour from the hole.

Miners either fled to the elevator or took a pickaxe and drill to ready themselves for a fight. The mole crabs held there snipping pinchers in the air to intimidate those who disturbed their nest. Atsu brought out his whips he called the Rattlesnake because of the poison tassels at the cracker of the whip. Lindiwe took out her sickle staff, or as she called it, Fishhook Barrel.

It was an all out war between miners and crabs, and the crabs had the upper hand. The miners were being pushed back, one went in with his pickaxe raised high, but took a slash to the chest that sent him down and bleeding. The crab looked at the scared miners and advanced forward with its pinchers ready to kill.

Lindiwe flung her weapon out like a fishing rod as the sickle went soaring. She pulled back to sink the blade into the crabs claw joint.

**"RRREEEKKK!" **

It cried as it fought against Lindiwe efforts to pull it away from the miners. Another mole crab went to aid its friend in distress as it ran up behind Lindiwe ready to behead her. Lindiwe looked back to see the crab rushing her, she wasn't exactly in a position to shoot, but she didn't care right now.

Lindiwe cocked back on the rifle part of her staff and had to use her thumb to pull the trigger due to her being backwards. The blunt part of the staff, which was the barrel, sparked bullets as she began unloading the clip into the crab.

The mole crab took a few shots before bringing its claws up to block its face from the bullets. The crab Lindiwe was hooked on pulled harder, forcing Lindiwe to miss her target. The other crab oozed grey blood from the holes on its body and struggled to stand, but it began making its way towards her again.

Lindiwe felt her anger boil her blood when the crab in front of her wouldn't stop struggling, so she pressed a button on the staff which started recoiling the wire as she pulled with all he might, "RRAAGGHH!" she yanked back.

***SHLEEK***

**"RRREEEK!" **

The crab cried as its claw fell to the group. Grey blood sprayed from crabs missing appendage wound, getting on rock and the miners.

Once the blade returned to the staff of Lindiwe's weapon, she swung it upward and behind her to cut through the soft underbelly and mandibles of the crab behind her. The crab went slack before its insides poured out in a hot grey smelly pile of goop.

The one armed crab turned around to see the barrel of Lindiwe's weapon pointing towards it, Lindiwe loaded another clip into her weapon. The mole crab made a hopeful attempt at lunging at Lindiwe to avenge its friend.

***BANG!***

***BANG!***

***BANG!***

The crab fell forward with three bullet holes in its faces. "Get to the elevator!" Lindiwe pointed. The miners who wasted no time in making their escape.

Meanwhile, Atsu had two crabs on him trying to get a pinch, but Atsu kept them back with his whip like he was a lion tamer.

***CRACK!* **

***CRACK!***

Atsu's whip snapped the mole crabs back. They circled him in opposite directions making it harder for Atsu to keep them back. One of the crabs tried its luck and went in for a stab, but Atsu jumped up in time while he wrapped the whip around its claw and landed on the shell of the other crab. Atsu didn't waste a second as he used both hands to pull hard.

The claw jerked up and impaled the crab Atsu stood on, killing it as it choked on it's own blood. Atsu hopped off the dead mole crab and readied himself for the next. Suddenly six more mole crabs burrowed out of the ground, some had fresh blood covered claws from previous kills.

Atsu grunted and twisted his whip handle, the mechanism inside clicked with the twist. The whip began to stiffen, the slack tightened until it was a very long javelin.

Suddenly a rock dust crystal clinked into the middle of all the crabs, and exploded into a bushel of jagged sharp rocks that penetrated all of them.

Atsu looked over to see Lindiwe aiming the barrel of her gun pointed at where the explosion occurred. She was unaware of the two mole crabs coming up behind her.

Atsu dropped his smile and reared his javelin back and heaved it. Lindiwe quickly ducked as her father's weapon sailed over her and turned the two crabs behind her into a kabob.

The two continued to clear the cavern of crustaceans. Even the miners who stayed to fight were able to take down a few.

Mole crabs were extremely hostile and territorial, practically willing to die before they let an inch of their nest be taken. They've tried to be tamed before, but they never listened and it cost too many lives to be worth the trouble.

While Atsu finished his triple kill a mole crab burst through the ground behind him and slashed at him. His aura protected him as he was sent through a few stalagmites, destroying them.

"DAD!" Lindiwe shouted, she wasn't in a much better position though. She had her weapon wedged between a claw right now, blocking the claw turned into a tug a war that ended when the crab used its other claw to grab Lindiwe around the waist. Her orange aura activated to protect her from the increasing pressure around her waist, she tried to pry the claw open for her to escape, but it had an iron grip around her. Her aura wouldn't hold long, she could already feel the pinchers begin to bite into her skin which caused her to cry out in pain.

Atsu grunted as he stood up from the pile of destroyed stalagmite to see his daughter in trouble, "LINDIWE!" he pushed his numb tired legs to stand and run to her aid, but three mole crabs snapped him back. Atsu transformed the javelin back to a whip and cracked it at them, but more appeared and began to close in around him. He made a desperate attempt to slip past them, but was knocked back by a thorny claw, his aura protected him, but he could feel it getting low. "Get the hell out of my way!" he roared with anger as he started viciously whipping his whip at every mole crab around him despite the fatigue.

The miners were fighting a losing battle as their fellow workers and friends went down fighting. Some bleed out from a severed appendage or gashes while others were just a body and no head. They were being picked off quickly, and soon it would just be Atsu and Lindiwe.

Lindiwe's aura began to falter while the pain increased, "AAAGGGHHH!" she cried as the pinchers began to cut into her midsection. Blood seeped into her clothing, and the pain was worse than it looked, fighting against the pinchers was like having a car wedging you into a wall while it was driving into you. Eventually she renounced to punching and kicking at the claw in desperation to break free, tears of pain and frustration ran down her face, "DAD! DAD PLEASE HELP!" she cried out. Her breath got caught in her throat when another shot of pain electrified through her sides. Lindiwe looked at her father with pleading eyes, but gasped when she saw that he wasn't in a better position than she was.

Atsu had killed three of the mole crabs, but was being tossed like a rag doll by the others, his aura seemed to be holding up, for now. He turned the whip into its javelin form and drove it through a claw that was aimed for his head. He kept driving the javelin through the claw until it punctured the crabs mandibles, then into its brain, killing it.

Lindiwe shedded more tears before she closed her eyes, praying for a miracle to save her and her father. That maybe this was just a nightmare and she'd wake up in her room again.

Suddenly she felt something in her snap, like she had discovered something in herself she didn't know was their. Her arms and legs began to feel lighter as a sudden wave of aura washed away her exhaustion and covered her body in orange.

"STOP!" her voice was like dynamite going off as it echoed through the cave. Suddenly the mole crabs attacking Atsu, and the ones about to kill the last miners stopped dead in their tracks and lowered their pinchers. Lindiwe panted hard while looking around in confusion, they just… stopped? "WHAA!" Lindiwe yelped as the crab dropped her from its sharp grip, she held her side as she pushed herself away quickly from the large crustacean. In fact every remaining crab seemed to be surrounding her, but that only frightened her more, "G-get back!" she ordered as her aura glowed brighter with the command, and to her surprise, they listened. The crabs began to slowly step back, giving her space. Lindiwe couldn't believe it, she was actually controlling these savage beasts, something that was said to be impossible, SHE WAS DOING IT!

Atsu stared in awe at the events portrayed in front of him by his daughter, even the miners were left in shock. Were the crabs doing this on their own, or was this the work of his own daughter commanding them to stop?

Lindiwe was still a bit shaky from the adrenaline, her aura made quick work at healing the gashes on her sides as she continued to pant. She tried to stand, but the pain kept her on one knee, she winced as she crept an eye open to scan her surroundings. They were just staring at her, as if waiting for their next command, their mandibles twitched like they were communicating with each other. Lindiwe found her weapon in the claw of the crab she was fighting earlier, anger began to build up, "Give me back my weapon." she hissed through gritted teeth. Without a second of doubt, the crab tossed Fishhook Barrel in the air, Lindiwe found the energy to stand up and catch it with both hands. She pointed the rifle of her weapon at the crabs around her as they stood like soldiers awaiting their next order.

"Leave." Lindiwe's words dripped with venom, her burning orange eyes seemed hot enough to cook their insides.

Like ants, the crabs retreated to their nest in single file. The sound of their crawling legs tapping on the rock that was stained with grey and red blood crept into everyone's ears.

Once the cavern was clear Lindiwe and her father shared a wide eyed slack jaw look of both confusion and surprise. "I don't know- why did-?" Lindiwe started. "YOUR SEMBLANCE!" Atsu exclaimed in glee as he ran up to his daughter and scooped her up in a twirling hug. She hugged back as they both shared a laugh, "Can I tell mom? And Uncle Adongo? And the Wukong's?!" Lindiwe asked in high anticipation, the Wukong's were a family of monkey fanus that were friends of Atsu. Atsu gave a low chuckle, "Hehe. Of course we can.", for a brief second they had forgotten about the slaughter around him. The rancid smell of blood and one of the miners crying brought them back to their situation, and their excited mood was killed along with the other bodies that lay around them.

The elevator buzzed before the light turned green, the man with the big nose and hanging gut stepped out before rearing his head back in disgust and covering his nose. He looked around in horror at the blood bath, clean pools of water now ran red with blood. Blue shiny water crystals dripped crimson, a couple bodies floated a top the blood ponds motionless.

Atsu sent an angered expression at him, like he were looking at a Grimm who had just killed an innocent, "Stay here Lindiwe. I will deal with this coward." he patted Lindiwe's head before stomping towards the man.

Lindiwe looked around at the sight of death, she hated it cost this many lives and almost her father's death just to unlock her semblance, but now that she has it, this mind control ability, she would use it to make sure nothing like this happens again. They would be moving to Vale soon after all! What better place to stop crime and go on missions as a huntress.

Hopefully things will be better from here on out.

Hopefully.

* * *

**Present**

Lindiwe and Erin stood near the lake in the grassy clearing of Tlaloc, where Erin found Lindiwe meditating a while back. The sun covered the land in a blanket of warmth, the trees swayed in the breeze making a rattling sound.

Erin paced back and forth, doing high knees like he was about to run a marathon. This was a big deal for him and his personalities, the plan was agreed by all of them. Today Erin wouldn't be the only one putting in the aura to use his semblance… it would be all of them, together, as a team.

Erin leaned on a nearby rock as he did more stretches, "So… you never did tell me yet how you unlocked your semblance." he mentioned. "_We really gonna have a conversation when were about to attempt the biggest moment in our life right now?" _Kore asked, obviously a bit peeved at the fact that Erin was stalling.

Lindiwe remember telling Erin he'd find out eventually, she hoped he'd find out by finding out himself. She wanted Erin to learn about observation of other huntsmen, analyse them when they use their aura and during fights to try and figure out their semblance, and get the advantage on his opponent. But Lindiwe thought that refusing to tell him wouldn't help him calm down, because he was obviously staling by stretching.

"My father and I were fighting off mole crabs and almost died. Luckily I saved us with my 'mind control' semblance I unlocked by sheer luck." she air quoted, "But it turned out I just have control over animals once my father and I studied it more." she finished explaining. Mind control over animals came in real handy for about anything if you think about it, why wouldn't you want to have the power of natures beasts at your feet.

"What about fanus?" Erin asked. "_Hey!"_ Kore shouted. "N-Not to be racist! I-I just mean their part animal, you know? Do they count?" Erin asked. "_Yeah whatever… bitch."_ Kore mumbled. Hugo spoke next, "_Can we proceed to our main focus? You can't avoid the enedidable Erin."_ he stated. "_The suspense is killing me!"_ Chestnut shouted. Kore agreed, "_Yeah we talked about this dude, we weren't going to be scared."_. "_You don't have to be nervous Erin, you got us helping you now, trust us, we got your back." _those words from Feliz seemed to reassure Erin as his slight tremble came to a halt. Kore realized his mistake, "_Right right, Feliz is right, sorry I'm… I'm just a bit excited is all." _Kore explained. "_Keep it in your pants man, I know she's hot."_ Chestnut teased. "_Up yours jackass." _Kore replied.

Lindiwe thought of an answer, "It's… it's hard to explain. I can on some, but it depends on how… strong minded they are." she paused thinking of a better way to explain it as she saw Erin cocked an eyebrow. "Some fanus can fight against my control if they try hard enough to block me out, and it can depend on what percent of their DNA is fanus, makes sense?" she finished.

Erin nodded his head, "Aaaawww ok. So how did you figure that out." he asked, but when Lindiwe frown and squeeze her eyes together like she was trying to push out a memory from entering her mind. Erin realized he must have struck a personal nerve and was quick to change the subject, "Ugh hey I'm ready, let's do this!" he said quickly. He walked into a more open area and got ready, Lindiwe shot her head up and forgot about what she was stressing about.

"Alright Erin, now breathe." she said.

Erin inhaled and exhaled slowly.

"Shake out the nerves."

Erin loosened his muscles and shook himself out, thinking to himself if he was ready for this. Could he bare the pain, but his personalities would be helping him, what was there to worry about, they spent half an hour planning this out. Wait but would the nightmares get worse, this… thing would just use these memories to try and get its freedom, but freedom from what, what was this thing exactly and why was it trying to scare him? Answers would come later, but right now, it was time.

"And go." Lindiwe finished.

"_Were ready when you are." _Hugo soothed.

Erin wanted to say he wasn't, his nerves started shivering again along with the nasiau. It was like someone was grabbing his stomach and twisting it in every way possible. He couldn't back down now, the gears wear in motion, the event set in stone, and because everyone would get pissy at him for being a pansy.

Erin inhaled a shaky breath while looking up at the sun before closing his eyes.

he placed himself back in the burning village with a choking storm of smoke and ash that hung deathly in the sky. He was going through the cycle of heart shredding events that took place that day, but before he went any further, he decided a new approach. He began playing memories in his mind once again, but not of that dreadful night, instead he went through the memories of the times spent laughing with his friends, fishing happily with his Uncle, and how he came to know his personalities.

Despite his active aura, the pain began to sharpen in his head, but it quickly diminished when his personalities began to activate their aura. Erin's brown aura shone star white from the mix of colored aura, and it only grew brighter by the second.

Lindiwe took a few steps back, but never took an eye off him. This could really work! But was it going to?

Erin let the tears flow down his face, not from pain or sadness, but from happiness, love, and joy. Erin kept pushing forward, not feeling any pain made Erin test the waters in proceeding with this. It seemed he had finally came to find peace within himself, Lindiwe was right, it really was him holding himself back, but he was done brooding, and was ready to start growing, as a person… and as a huntsmen. With that new determination found, Erin pushed his aura harder than he feels like he ever has, even from drills.

Erin scrunched his eyes tighter together as he gritted his teeth hard. His head suddenly felt like it was being both cut and cooked, "AAAAGGG-!" he scream was cut off along with the pain as his whole body turned into a flshbang of white light.

Lindiwe gave a sharp gasp before covering her eyes before almost going blind.

The whole perimeter about a few yards out was engulfed in white for a meer seconds, before the light dulled back to Erin, but…

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

It wasn't just Erin standing their.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

Lindiwe eyes seemed to sparkle like a little girl getting a pony on her birthday. Her jaw never reached farther from down before, and the corners of her open mouth curled up into a smile.

Kore, Chestnut, Feliz, and Hugo stood side by side next to Erin.

"HELL YEAH!" Kore pumped his fists in the air, "I've got my own hands, my own feet, and a tail!" Kore began to circle himself trying to grab his tail, but he didn't exactly have full control over it because it kept moving away from his hands. He looked dumb.

Hugo examined his clothing and the others, noticing it was the same as what Erin's leather training suit, but different color to match each of them individually, "I'm not sure how to explain the apparel, but whatever.".

Chestnut ran to Feliz and heaved him up by the legs and started jumping in celebration, "HA HAAAA! Look at us! Were amazing!" he cheered. "YYYEEEAAAHHH!" Feliz howled in glee.

"Guys." Hugo called out.

Chestnut put Feliz down and turned to Kore, "Koooore, come here you son of a- GAH!" Chestnut was cut off by a swift fist across the face that knocked him on his ass.

Kore closed his eyes and gave a long, soft sigh of satisfaction, "God that felt so good!" he made sure to enjoy the punch as long as he could, putting months of built up anger and digging his knuckles right into that idiots cheek was blissful for Kore.

"Guys!" Hugo snapped.

Everyone looked at Hugo, "Something's wrong with Erin." he said pointing his thumb at him.

Erin swayed a bit like he was trying to keep himself from passing out. Erin's eyes were opened half way and his lips were slightly apart. His whole body was numb but he felt lightheaded, a small trickle of blood snaked down from his nose. He just… stared at them for what seemed like the whole day before mustering the will to speak, "Hey… guys…" he slurred softly before blacking out and falling face first.

Feliz was quick on his feet to catch Erin before the others came to his aid and lowered him onto his back. Kore started smacking him, "Hey hey hey, Erin, say something you okay man?" he shook Erin's limp body until Hugo shooed him off. "Enough of that, he's just passed out from exhaustion, nothing fatal." he explained.

With Chestnut knowing that Erin was ok, he made his way over to Lindiwe, "So I hear you can control animals hmm." he spoke trying to sound slick, "Well I hate to say it, but I'm just all sorts of wild. My animal can not bet tamed." he finished with a devilish smile and a wink.

The next thing he knew Fishhook Barrels blade was at the crook of his neck. Chestnut shot his hands up, "Hehehe, on second thought, it's a bit too early for that, wanna push it up another date." his answer was Lindiwe driving the blunt of Fishhook Barrel into his crotch area.

Chestnut let out a wheezing grunt before collapsing into a ball of pain. He wanted to throw up his kidneys, and he also wanted to breathe again, both seemed like difficult tasks at the moment, but his aura made a quick recovery.

Kore couldn't let the opportunity to shame his idiotic friend, "HAHAHAHA! Your so dumb you freaking idiot. Aww man this really is the best day ever." he said wiping a tear from his eye.

Lindiwe looked at the rest of them with a more delightful expression, "You… you are all living proof of an age old legend. I can hardly believe this is true." her smile brightened.

Feliz spoke first, "That's nice and all, but Erin needs our help right now! What do we do!?" he exclaimed with worry. Hugo put a hand on his shoulder, "We take him to the room to rest right now. He'll be awake in a short while." he calmed Feliz down. In truth, Hugo didn't know how long he'd be out, but he needed Feliz to calm down.

Lindiwe blinked a couple times before returning back to reality, "Oh right! Here let me get him." Lindiwe scooped Erin up bridal style and carried him back to the mountain, she tried to hide her jittery side, but failed. This was an astounding moment in her life, and all of Remnant.

* * *

The whole barracks of Chad's special trainees were cleaning up after an early morning of hard P.T., people were either rushing to get a shower, changing into fresh clothes, cleaning their boots, or just trying to catch a couple of Z's. Unfortunately for Samantha, being the only girl on the team meant having to be last to shower, last to change, and most of the guys would give stares that made her skin crawl. They were either jealous of her performance in combat or her wits in classes, but she could tell that some of the men here were dogs, eyeballing her like a piece of meat. Men were pigs, stick them in a camp away from women, and they go tongues out drooling and on their knees for a womans touch.

Sammantha just so happened to be on every dog heated mind at the moment, as she walked down the hall of bed bunks in black shorts and a sports bra with her dangerously sharp lemon yellow eyes and crimson red hair. She was lucky to have Woods treat her like she had a soul rather than just a body, and Rhino would give a silent death warning at those who dare looked at her… you know… her ass, but it worked really well. She's tried to make contact with the mysterious samurai from the shooting range, the person would always wear that helmet, ALWAYS! How does he eat or sleep in it? Hopefully the guy kept up with dental hygiene, if it even was a guy, but every time she tried talking to him it was either silence, or awkward stares. He would either be cleaning his armor, counting his shurikens/throwing knives, or sit silently on his bed.

Biggest problem was she had right now was Rhino trying to pick fights with the samurai by calling him names, doing stupid faces, and talking smack, but things would escalate quickly when Rhino tried to mess with his helmet. Four times they've bumped heads to the point of physical fighting, Samantha would just groan like how a mother would hear her children bickering over some stupid shit.

So far two people have fallen out of the group, so twenty people remained, she'd hate for Rhino and the samurai to be next. Some moments Samantha stood in the shower thinking if she really wanted to be on this team. She was flattered at what the lieutenant thought of her, but maybe he had too much faith in her, she wasn't exactly the most strong hearted badass fighter that this village needed. Especially since the attack, Bergseite is in higher demand than ever for resources for reconstruction and defense. Asking the nearby villages and sending a dire needed message to headmaster Ozpin at Beacon to send huntsmen in training for security assistance.

Samantha began going through her locker, unaware to Rhino's plan of mischief as he made his way to the samurais bed, "Hey tin head, you awful quiet." he huffed through his nostrils. But the samurai said nothing, nor did he spare a glance at him. That only frustrated Rhino more, "Hey, you do anything but stare through that bucket all day… hellooooo?" Rhino taunted as he started waving in front of his face, even snapped a couple times, but the samurai didn't even flinch.

Everyone seemed to start turning their attention to the duo, hoping for maybe a fight, or just to see some juicy drama take place.

The tension he created seemed to infect the rest of the barracks as everyone stopped what they were doing to get a view of the commotion. As if Rhino hadn't tested the water enough, he decided to put his whole foot in and make a daring move, "You know, since we're all supposed to be a team here, I think it's time to get to know the person under that helmet ." the second Rhinos hand inched toward the samurai's helmet, cold metal met his jugular, and his eyes stared into the cold black abysse of those glass eyes in the samurai's helmet.

Despite the heat from the tension, a sudden chill seemed to shiver up everyone's body from lighting fast speed of the blade. Rhino didn't show fear however, he just stared a stone hard expression, he began to back away, but the samurai moved with him to keep the blade at his neck until they both stood in the walkway of the barracks.

Woods stepped into the danger zone, "Guys… don't-". "Don't worry Woods, I got this." Rhino cut him off, he spoke with confidence while continuing to make eye contact with those black eyes. "Ok ok, you like your shiny stuff, lets just put the knife… down." he spoke in a deep gentle voice as he lowered his hands. The samurai didn't move for a few seconds before relieving pressure from his throat, but that proved to be a mistake when Rhino shot his fist up into the samurai's body armor. It was like getting shot point blank range by a cannon ball as the samurai flew back and crashed into a locker, causing it to bend under the force along with the items inside it spilling out.

The samurai wasted no time in picking himself up and taking out a second knife, but Rhino only smiled in satisfaction at this and cracked his knuckles. Just as the two were about to kill each other there was a flash of red and before you know it, their anger turned to confusion when they couldn't move.

Samantha stood not to far from them with her hair stretched out and curled up around their limbs, "That's enough you two! Are you really going to get kicked off the team because you wanna act like children!?" she barked at them, it was mainly Rhino she was trying to help out.

The samurai just looked at her before his body seemed to phase and become see through, causing Samantha's hair to grab nothing but air, like a blind person reaching for something to grab on to. It surprised the hell out of Samantha and the rest of the audience which was the barracks, but instead of the samurai going after Rhino, he walked back to his bunk and phased back to normal.

Rhino just grunted and rubbed his neck before stomping off with a nasty scowl. Against Woods better judgement, "I'm just… I'm just gonna got check on him." he gulped before walking over to the angry fanus as everyone went about their business. Samantha just redid her bun and sighed, it had been only a month and people were already at each others necks, some people just wanted to be the best out of everyone and catch the eyes of their superiors.

"Your just delaying the inevitable you know.".

Samantha turned to see a porcupine fanus slumped on his bed resting his eyes with a sly smirk on his face, the kind you would want to slap right off. Great, this guy. He had black spiky hair that was slick back to expose his forehead, his skin had a tink of healthy pink pigment to it, and his nose was a bit rounded to resemble a snout. Grey prickly hair covered the back of his arms, shoulders, and back, along with the forest of quills along his back, hence he wore no shirt. He wore instead black polycarbonate armor that only hugged the front of his muscles while leaving his stone chiseled arms open for show, the armor aligned his abs, ribs, and pecks. If she hadn't already seen him without the armor beforehand he would have been mistaken for a cyborg, how did it even stick on him? There was no strap attached to it or anything, maybe it was suction?

The quills were laid flat against his back so not to puncture the bed, but his quills weren't just great in numbers, they were also thick and boney looking. Getting impaled by one of those would be like taking a Deathstalker stinger, yikes!

Samantha narrowed her eyes and put a hand on her hip, getting in a sassy pose, "What are you on about now Leo?" she asked, Leo had been there since day one of training, but only recently had she actually talked to him.

They met in literally the worst possible way, she knew it was an accident, but despite Leo being a porcupine fanus he was a sneaky little fox.

Leo cracked an eye open and looked at her, "Their just gonna duke it out eventually, and if it's not for a scheduled sparring match. Hehehe, then our group will be two people lighter." he stated confidently getting relaxed again.

Samantha had two emotions right now, anger because he was right, and sadness because well, he was right. Rhino and the samurai guy could get cut off the team if they didn't get their act straight, though she was really more concerned for Rhino, but how can two polar opposites get along.

Samantha closed her eyes and sighed through her nose, "Yeah, your right." annoyance sharp in her tone.

Leo snickered, "Of course I'm right, how long do you think I've been here?", confidence spewed from every pore on his body, and to make things worse, he was a good fighter and had a good aim. He used a bow and arrow, but he doesn't use normal arrows, he's a porcupine for a reason. He uses a recurve bow that's green on the limbs and brown on the arrow rest, two blades ran curved along the limbs, and the blade point stopped just at the recurve.

Speaking of signature weapons, Samantha had what she called her Octuplets, her eight babies, gold painted magnums with a white quartz frame and grip. Each of her pistols were distinguishable by having a number from one to eight engraved on the ejection port in Atlesian numerals. Part of when she was in basic training was your own weapon design, and knowing how to dismantle and reassemble weapons.

Rhino had a very large and bulky sawed off quad barrel shotgun, the barrels lined horizontally next to each other but not in a straight line, like a semicircle. He called it Blitzkrieg It looked beat up and scratched, a few scorch marks to, obviously it's seen a lot of combat in his years of defending this village. The tips of the barrel were sharpened like teeth, a silver rhino head was the top lever for reloading, and where there should have been a trigger and stock, was actually some kind of glove hole to put your arm in. It was large enough for Rhino, but the gun must be worn as a glove with the trigger being in it… cool.

Then Damien Woods had a club, well he called it a club, but it looked more like a metal bat. He called it Trifold, sleek dull light blue, some of the paint was coming off. The top half of the barrel of the bat split into three which opened up and shifted back. In turn, three gun barrels extended out in a triangle shape where the end cap was, a trigger would pop out from the handle, and the knob would extend out to be the stock.

And the samurai guy just hand throwing knives and ninja star things for all she knew.

Samantha crossed her arms with a roll of her eyes and scoffed, "Can you be anything but an ass hat? Try being, oh I don't know, nice." she leaned in with sas.

Leo opened his eyes and turned to her, "I have been nice, I haven't told anyone about seeing you-" Samantha's had over his mouth cut him off mid-sentence. She looked at him as though she was about to pounce on him and claw his eyes out, "Shut. Up. We do NOT. Talk about THAT." she emphasized, but realizing the position she was in with him she quickly withdrew herself and relaxed when no one saw, but someone found it funny. "Hehehe. You know Repunzel, if you wanted to be in the same bed as me, you could've just asked. Perhaps another time though." he said holding his hands out as he gave a wide smile.

Samantha cringed in disgust as she took a step back, but also wanted to punch his teeth in for calling her Rapunzel, "For a porcupine fanus, your such a pig." she spat, but Leo only clicked his tongue and winked, Samantha just scoffed and walked away.

She didn't intend to meet anyone the way she met Leo, it started a week ago when she finally went to take her shower. The person who built the shower rooms were complete IDIOTS! No women's section, not even shower stalls! Did they just assume girls weren't going to join in the defense force… dumbasses honestly. The point is that when she saw that bottle of shampoo that should have been an instant red flag with alarm and flashing red lights, because it meant someone had left it would come back to it.

Samantha had begun showering, Leo came back to retrieve the said shampoo, but Samantha couldn't hear anyone come in through the showerhead, and one thing led to another. Leo saw her naked, and she slipped and fell back bringing her towel down with her thank goodness. She didn't know how much he'd seen, but it was too much. She even thought being in a tank top and shorts was enough skin to show.

Leo only gave a sly smile and offered a hand, but the kindness was not returned because Samantha literally screamed at him to get out. He may not have been a gentleman for staring, but he was at least humane enough to not tell anyone.

And that's how she met Leo.

* * *

**Chad's Tent**

Chad plopped into his chair with a groan of relief after an early morning of P.T., his P.T. didn't involve just jogging, push ups, and sit ups, no.

They were going to be huntsmen level combat ready, so it only made sense to run them through huntsmen training and harder. They would get to that after they had breakfast though.

Chad downed a bottle of water and opened an MRE for his breakfast.

As he was spooning pork' n beans in his face, he suddenly remembered what he wanted to look at. He put his food aside and scrounged through one of his file cabinets, his fingers walked across the file labels until, "Bingo." he pulled out a vanilla folder. He opened it to reveal a bio of one of the guys he was training and in the corner was a photo of the person, but it wasn't a face, instead it was a silver black helmet that resembles a samurai.

Name: Ming Yue

Eye color: unknown

Skin color: unknown

Hair color: unknown

Race: Mistralian

Gender: unknown

Age: 26

The physical features went on, more unknown than known. Chad had assumed the person was a he, but honestly was never sure, the samurai was 'kind of' quiet.

His pink eyes scanned over the description. Mistrial wasn't a big surprise exactly for where this person was from. Mistral was known for their bands of samurai warriors during the Great War. They rode metal plated horses into the face of battle when their country was in danger. Atlas may have had guns and cannons when they attacked Mistral, but their firepower was no match for Mistrals cunning stealth, and strategic use of their home land for both offense and defense. In the history books, they were called hēi rén qí shì, the Knights of Black.

They were big time fighters, elites, stories say they wore masks of Grimm as a symbol of death coming their way, that was something the White Fang did today, but with a different meaning. They attacked at night most of the time, the sound of their stampeding horses was like a storm of thunder striking bolts of fear into invaders.

Chad started making connections on why this guy was in samurai armor, apparently he was trying to be old school, maybe it was some ancestral honor thing. Mistral was known for its culture of spiritual practices, aura meditations, and ancestral religious codes that were passed down by family names.

Chad sighed as he closed the folder and pinched the bridge of his nose as he leaned back in his chair. It was just something time would answer for him.

He checked his watch and gave a silent and sort of anti protagonist laugh because his squad should be heading to breakfast soon.

And he couldn't wait.

* * *

Erin woke up to a bright light in his face, he blinked a few times until his eyes adjusted to the sun. He sat to see he was in a small boat out in the lake by his village, "Where… where am I?" he looked around. Erin felt a hand on his shoulder and in response flinched while spinning around, he fell but caught himself on the bow causing the boat the slosh the water back and forth.

Erin's heart skipped a beat, or at least like it stopped. His brain was like an age old computer as it registered what he was seeing. The wrinkled face of his Uncle Matt sat with his fishing coat, hat, and rod, his smile shined brighter than the morning sun. The silence was finally broken when Uncle Matt held out an arm, "Well… are ya gonna give me a hug?" he asked with amusement.

Erins thought process was a swirl of fear, joy, sadness, but it didn't take long for Erin to crash into his chest, rocking the boat in the process. "Woah woah I missed ya too kiddo, hehe." Uncle Matt patted Erins back. Erin tears were absorbed by the fabric of his Uncle's clothes, "I'm sorry Uncle Matt, I'm so sorry ***sob* *sob* *sob***.".

Uncle Matt put the rod down and positioned Erin to where they were looking at each other. Uncle Matt's eyes looked serious, but they softened, "You didn't do anything, I did what I did because I love you. If anything I should be apologizing to you for holding you back, look at how far you've come in your training so far. I'm proud of you Erin." he spoke from the heart.

Erin took a few seconds to compose himself so he didn't choke on his words, "Thank you." he whispered. He wiped his face off, "So is this the part where I get some ancient old man wisdom?" he asked jokingly, they both shared a good laugh. "Smartass, hehe." his Uncle laughed.

The fishing pole began to move, "Wow, get the net Erin." Uncle Matt urged him. Erin grabbed the pole with a net on the end and hung it over the water. A red drum came splashing out as Uncle Matt reeled it in, Uncle Matt pulled it from the water and placed it into the net while it twitched rapidly, missing the water. Once they packed it in the cooler Erin spoke, "I've been having nightmares lately so this is a nice change of things. Is this even a dream, what is this exactly?" he asked looking around, it looked like home, but he knew it wasn't, in the distance he could have sworn he saw black storm clouds brewing towards them. Uncle Matt's voice took his attention, "Well you made this place, I thought you would know?" he replied like it was obvious. Erin was taken back, He made this place? Maybe the conversation with Lindiwe had finally put his mind at peace, all the negative thoughts repressed.

The sky began to turn grey as clumps of clouds blocked out the warm sun and a cool wind took its place. The trees danced and rattled with the wind, "Ooof, that's some weather change huh?" his Uncle pointed out, but when the clouds began to blacken Erin knew something was wrong. Erin stood up looking at the sky in horror, "No." he whispered, the clouds began to swirl and they were in the eye of the storm. "Is this part of the nightmares you were talking about?" his Uncle asked, not seeming to freakout like Erin was.

Erin took in a sharp breath with wider eyes as a fire suddenly ignited in the riparian forest and snaked around them until they were surrounded by a ring of fire in the middle of a lake. And as if things couldn't have gotten worse a large King Taijitu Grimm like snake appeared from the towering flames, but it wasn't a Grimm, it was the same cobra that's been haunting him.

Those narrow venomous eyes struck Erin dead cold with fear to where he forgot how to breathe, his throat went desert dry. The hiss reverberated through his head, and those fangs bore long and sharp.

Uncle Matt seemed to have the opposite effect, he took his time standing up. He kept his shoulders firm, posture straight, fists balled at his sides, and glare that could make every fish in this lake jump in his boat for him.

He looked like he wanted to fight the damn thing.

Erin panicked, "Uncle Erin what are you doing, get down!" he pulled on his jacket, but his Uncle didn't budge a muscle until he held a hand out to him, "Don't worry Erin, I'll handle this." he spoke without a flicker of timidity.

The cobra stretched across the lake until it's split tongue touched the boat. Uncle Matt took a daring move and pointed at him, "Now I don't know who you think you are, but you better leave my nephew alone." his calm voice carried a heavy feeling of demand in it.

The cobra hissed in anger, **"How DARE you! Your nothing but a mere consciousness of Erin's mind, but I… I'm ssssomething much different." **it hissed. Something much different? What was this thing exactly? This thing was just in his dreams right? It would keep on saying it wanted control, but that could mean only one thing.**"Erin ssshould know me quite well in fact, he jusssst doesn't know it quite yet."**.

The clouds began to drizzle.

Now Erin was confused, he never knew a talking snake, nor did he even recognize the voice before it started tormenting him with nightmares. His Uncle Matt didn't quiver his stone face, "It doesn't matter who you are, you better bet that my nephew will kick slithery ass." he stated dominantly.

The drizzle began to get heavier until it was raining.

Erin was at a loss of words on how his Uncle had so much faith in him. He was so against Erin being a huntsmen, so hearing him put faith and encouragement in his ears and into his heart only made the fire of Erin's determination grow bigger.

The rain became a downpour of water, the fire hissed in pain as its life was being extinguished. The cobra reared its head back, about to strike. Erin's hair and clothes plastered to his skin, water ran along his entire form, some dripped off his fingers and chin.

"**SSSSSSSSSSSSS!" **it let out a spine shivering hiss before lunging at the small boat. Erin went numb with shock, but stood proudly with his Uncle until everything was black.

* * *

"GAAAH!" Erin awoke being sprayed by water, "Plea! Tchu! The hell!" he spat water out of his mouth and covered his face, "Stop! Stop!" he shouted. Erin let out a grunt of annoyance from being soaked as he rubbed his eyes dry of water to see him in the shower room with Kore and Chestnut.

Wait. KORE AND CHESTNUT!?

Erin eyes almost popped from their sockets, "KORE! CHESTNUT! Y-you guys are- your, YOUR HERE!" he jumped to his feet and looked at Chestnut, "L-l-look at you n' your green hair…" he then looked at Kore, "... and you got a tail n' ears bro thats sick!" Erin scanned over them. "Yeah yeah its cool, but don't touch it." Kore shooed his hand off.

"Ahem."

Erin turned around to see Hugo, Feliz and Lindiwe near the sinks. Erin's eyes only sparkle brighter, "You guys!" he hooked around both of their necks and hugged them brightly. Feliz laughed and hugged back, even if Erin was wet and cold, but Hugo, "Ox...y...GEN!" he wheezed, also he didn't want to get wet, or at least as wet now that Erin was forcing him into a hug. You could say they looked like Erin, actually they had very similar facial features, but they had distinct traits such as hair color, eye color, and for some reason they had the same leather training armor but in different color… interesting. Erin let them go and settled down, "Ok first off, why the hell did you guys soak me for?" he asked irritatingly flinging water off his saturated hands.

Feliz covered a snicker with his hand, but it was Hugo who spoke first, "You were out for quite a while, so we began to consult each other a way to awaken you-" he began explaining, but Chestnut came in and pushed him aside, "Then I thought to brand you…" making Erin wince, "... but apparently know one agreed, so then I suggested a shower-!" and finally Kore pushed Chestnuts face aside, "Then I dragged your ass in here and showered you off, you smell a little better now." he said dryly.

Erin rubbed his head, "Geez how long was I out?". "It's morning, just in time for breakfast." Lindiwe answered leaving the room. "Morning!?" Erin exclaimed following her which in turn everyone else followed in tow. Erin caught up to echo Lindiwe's step, "What did you guys do while I was out?" Erin almost seemed desperate to know, like he was jealous she got to spend more time with his personalities while he was napping.

Lindiwe just sighed at Erin's child like pouting.

* * *

**Chow Hall**

Chad's trannies were in the chow hall for breakfast, and the strange thing was that it was just them. It gave Samantha a strange feeling.

Today was scrambled eggs, sausage patties, and bacon. Everyone used plastic utensils while Rhino used his natural utensils. Samantha sat next to Woods, she had to admit he was cute, and she wasn't oblivious to him trying to get her attention. But she wasn't going to just bend over heels for him, she wasn't even sure getting into a relationship was what she wanted, only time would tell.

Rhino and Leo sat across from them, while the samurai person… was nowhere to be found. Maybe it was for the best, wouldn't want Rhino starting Remnants most destructive food fight. In fact that's what they were discussing about right now.

"But what's the point, the goal is not to get kicked out." Samantha finished stuffing egg into her mouth. Rhino chewed off a piece of bacon, "If the guy can't handle a little fun then he's just a little bitch. Teammates joke with each other, that's all I was doing." Rhino huffed through his nostrils, finishing his bacon.

Leo snickered, "I can't wait to see the lieutenant lose his shit when he sees the locker." he pounded the table lightly to constrain his laughter. Woods just sighed, "Were dead. He's probably gonna make us build an entire knew one, and then rebuild every other one just so they match." he held his head and groaned.

Samantha hummed in agreement, "After he makes us run to Vale City and back." she exaggerated. Her attention was redirected when woods let out another groan. She put a hand on his shoulder, "Woods, are you ok?".

Woods raised his head like he'd been caught sleeping in class, "No! I mean yeah, yeah I'm fine, just… tired" were his last words before he went face first onto his empty plate causing his fork to fall on the floor and many eyes to dart at the source of the noise.

Rhino and Leo burst out laughing, Leo leaned on Rhino to keep himself from falling. Rhino composed himself, "Y-you, hehehe! You been stayin up late bruh? Hehehe, how long has it been since you been with A WOMAN! BAHAHAHAHA!".

The whole cafeteria was in an uproar of laughter while pounding the table. Samantha flew a bit pink as she scoffed and rolled her eyes, "Woods." she shook his shoulder, "Woods!" she smacked the back of his head.

Another sound of silverware falling to the floor rang at the other end of the table, someone else had face planted into the table. Then others started passing out and falling from their seats or face forward. Samantha looked at Wood's empty plate of eggs and everyone else's plate, was it the eggs!?

Leo was the next to pass out on Rhino's bicep, causing Samantha to gasp. Rhino pushed him off and stood up confused, "Man w-wha… whaz… goin… on." he slurred before blacking out. Samantha screamed as she leapt from her seat before Rhino collapsed on the table making a crack where Samantha would have been.

Samantha's breathing and heart rate was going a hundred miles an hour, she started running to the door, but her head began to feel light. The lights seem to be more bright, the world around her began to spin making her steps uncoordinated. she used the table as a support, but her body began to feel weak as her eyelids grew heavy. She fell to the cold hard ground and began crawling desperately to the door, "No…" was the last thing she said before blacking out.

A few minutes later the door opened with Chad and a couple of other troops behind him. He took a moment to scan over the room of his passed out trainees "Lets load them up." he ordered.

* * *

The samurai was elsewhere to eat without the helmet on, it was an old religious belief in Mistral during the Great War that samurai always wore their helmets around others. Only when the samurai had achieved a trusting bond with someone could they remove their helmet around **THAT** person, but trusting people and making friends wasn't the reason for coming to Vale from Mistral. Mistral was the last time trusting people would ever be in consideration… family issues.

The Samantha girl attempted to converse, but that was the last thing that needed to be done. The purpose of being here was to fight and protect the innocent, but being in that Grimm attack having to be the only thing between a horde of man-eating monsters and a crowd of scared people. It becomes known that you can't always save everyone… only try.

Rhino was a fun pain in the ass, really, this place could get boring, but Rhino made things interesting, trying to get under the helmet. Getting into a fight was always fun, kept things entertaining, the rhino fanus was strong, but he could use a little more skill to fight with rather than relying on sheer strength to win the fight.

And Leo was just a prick.

The samurai's eyes blinked rapidly, everything started feeling lighter than air. The eggs and bacon on the plate began to twist and turn, but soon it was on the floor when the samurai stood up and put the helmet back on in worry. Someone tampered with the eggs! The samurai drew a throwing knife and looked around trying to find a potential spier. Trying to keep focus became increasingly difficult with each passing second.

A few seconds later the knife fell from the samurai's fingers to the ground and soon the samurai followed.

A couple silhouettes appeared over the fallen silver and black warrior.

Once they were in the bar area they made their way to where the living room half was and cramped each other on the couch, Chestnut more so jumping on to it while Hugo sat on the single cushioned chair. Lindiwe stood behind the coffee table, "I got to know a little more about your personalities." she said casually. A pregnant silence formed, Erin's eyes darted around awkwardly, "Oooookayyy… about what?". "Oh! That was my que to explain, sorry." Feliz broke the silence. Kore patted his shoulder, "It's okay, we all knew you'd forget." he said not actually feeling sympathetic.

Hugo roled his eyes, "Ok this is stupid…" he exclaimed having enough, "We were discussing about our adventure to here, and one thing led to another the subject on how we came to be popped up." he leaned back into his chair. Erin slumped and groaned, "Haven't you already been told how they came to be, why not talk about something new." his tone lingered with annoyance. Lindiwe narrowed her eyes at him, "We did, you just didn't let him finish." her words bit. "Oh." Erin shrinked into his seat and blushed.

Kore spoke next, "Or how about we get to the point, goddamn Hugo you don't have to beat around the bush!" he growled, his tiger ears popped up as he looked at Erin, "Look we were just talking about memories we have, even before we came to… whatever, born I guess, I don't care what it's called." Kore rested his cheek on his fist and sighed through his nose.

Erin looked puzzled, "Memories before you were born? What do you mean, and how would you know if you weren't even born?" he was only getting more questions than answers.

Hugo just glared at Kore, "Like I was trying to explain…" Kore rolled his eyes and adjusted himself so his tail wasn't cramped. "We know these memories aren't exactly ours because… it's just a feeling we have, none of us can recall being present at the events we remember, but the most abnormal thing about it is that… we don't have the same memories." Hugo's face showed confusion, he seemed to have more questions than Erin.

"Yeah it's pretty weird." Feliz spoke softly, but Chestnut pushed his head back so that he was looking at Erin, "Yeah! Like I remember me, Yana, Yolo, and Axel were making some sort of badass dumpster trash contraption trap for the Ass Hat clan. It was EXHILARATING!.". Everyone stared at him… "I mean Berit and his friends." he summed up.

Feliz perked up, "Oooh.". Chestnut slapped his forehead, "How did none of you get that!" he got so triggered. Erin snickered a bit, "I did." he smiled. Hugo just nodded his head, "Yeah, your so cool." he said without a care. Kore grunted before replying, "You don't need to ask me, I actually… agree with you, leeaa!" Kore gagged on saying that. Erin stood up and pointed at Chestnut, "That was operation Take Out the Trash! I only had Kore and Feliz at that time." he pointed out. Then Feliz told his side, "I remember giving a pink flower to Yana when she was sad, but I couldn't have done that." Feliz said scratching his head.

Erin sat back in his chair with his mouth slightly ajar, that memory was like a shot through the heart, he could feel his chest thump in pain with every heartbeat. Feliz went pale when he realized what he said as Kore drooped his ears and shook his head. It may have been a little over a month since the attack, but the scars it left still stung, "Sorry." Feliz mumbled.

Lindiwe thought to change the subject, "What about you Hugo, what do you 'remember'." she air quoted. Hugo taped his chin, "Well, I remember about deciding to run away or not, best way to bait a fish, survival skills-". "LAME!" Kore butted in, "I remember ass beatings from Berit, Gash, and Drake, lets see, some bullshit from Uncle Matt like when we had to drag his drunk ass off the floor-" Kore ears twitched a bit at that memory, even Erin felt a twig of annoyance snap in him, "And stubbing my toe once… several times actually." he finished explaining.

"But we weren't around when these events took place." Hugo extended a finger. Lindiwe spoke next, "Erin I think that when your mind split itself, it copied certain memories to help construct the personality that is… them." she gestured to his personalities.

Erin was flabbergasted because of how much sense it made, it was incredible. The thought that he made them, which in a way sounds wrong, but made them feel more special to him.

Kore stood up and twisted his back to stretch, "Okay now that we got another lesson on how our birthday works, what's next on the agenda?". All eyes were on Lindiwe, she knew what they wanted. Lindiwe let out a long breath of air from her nose with an all knowing smirk, these kids were gonna drive her crazy she thought as she shook her head, "Well Erin, since you've finally unlocked your semblance-" she playfully said with a wide grin and a role of her eyes, Erin and the rest of his personalities except Kore, leaned off the couch. Their eyes were opened like they were looking at the world's biggest ice-cream sundae, they began to rise from their seats, rears hovering over the body warmed cushions, "I suppose now... we can officially start your huntsmen training." she could barely hold her laughter when the five young boys jumped from in the air in absolute triumph, hugging each other, patting each other, despite their different personalities they all felt one thing right now.

Happiness.

Lindiwe hadn't laughed like this in a long while, it almost made her sad remembering why she had lost this kind of feeling in the first place. Knowing that one day… they would have to know… was she a bad person for doing this? She needed to really practice what she preached.

"Lindiwe?"

Lindiwe snapped up, "Hm?" she saw the boys looking at her. "Oh, I-I'm fine, I'll meet you in the training room, go now." she plastered a smile on her face. The boys seemed satisfied by the answer, although Hugo gave her a look before rushing to the training room with his friends.

Lindiwe slackened her posture and sighed, she should be happy Erin is one step closer to being a huntsmen, she spent a month building up his aura for this moment. Why not celebrate? But it also meant he was one step closer to crossing a line he couldn't back away from.

This was all crazy, the secrets her father withheld came with severe consequences, the truth Ozpin revealed had stripped her of her future as a huntress, and then trying to do something her father couldn't which cost Summers life. Summer was selfless, daring, strong, kind, the list could go on, and she couldn't help but remember what Summer told the Queen, 'We don't have to kill you to stop you, and we **WILL **stop you.' those words echoed in Lindiwe's head, it wasn't long after that they were ambushed, betrayed by who she thought was her friend.

Lindiwe went behind the lit bar, her orange orbs scanned every bottle of liquor until they landed on an Atlesian Vodka, _'Black Ice'_ the bottle read. She reached up and grasped the neck of the bottle tightly with building anger, then pulled it. The bottle didn't move off the shelf, but it stayed angled from being pulled, two small clicks were heard in the wall until the wall of bottles and glasses moved back and slid right to reveal small hidden room the size of a two person walk in closet.

There were shelves on both sides that were littered with boxes with papers and folders sticking messily from them. There was an office desk with a map of Remnant spread over it with red lines, X's, and circles on it. Names were at every circle and x on that map of different people, some who she was looking for, others were murdered. There was a black question mark on the Mistral continent that said 'Grimm Reaper's last known location', but she doubts she would find that legendary warrior any time soon.

On the wall in front of her were pictures of several people from newspapers that traveled up like a pyramid, strings attached to everyone until they reached the top picture, accept it wasn't a picture. It was just a silhouette with a question mark with the name 'Salem' above. That, was the Queen of Grimm, responsible for the current secret war under Remnants nose.

The pictures below that showed her disciples. Doctor Author Watts, the youngest Cinder Fall, the brute Hazel Rainart, and the murderess psychopath Tyrian Callows. She gritted her teeth looking at his smiling face, it wasn't a warm happy smile, it was the smile he had on after another satisfying kill was placed under his belt, killer of one of her family members, the memory made her baller her fists.

She had some other pictures of White Fang members she thought might be under Salem's influence such as Sieana Khan, and Adam Taurus. But one picture in particular really got under her skin, made her blood boil, and her face would curl up into an angry primal hatred face. She wasn't White Fang, but she is in fact helping Salem.

Raven Branwen.

The name left a rancid taste in her mouth. Her picture had a few holes and cuts in it, and it got a new one when Lindiwe plunged a pencil in her face. It felt good to let rage out when you've been building up hate for someone for so long.

She scoffed when she realized what she was doing, "What am I doing, I'm wasting time." she quickly closed the secret door so that she was hidden and opened a filing cabinet with several vanilla folders, but she pulled out the green, yellow, purple, and red folders. Erin had told her the distinctive color each personality possessed which made it easier to make notes on each one. The folders were a bit bulky from previous data collected over the month.

Right now she had some theories to write and notes to jot.

* * *

Erin and the others entered the white training room with energy fueled by eagerness, it was their first time training together… well not together as one, but individually together… yeah, that makes sense.

Chestnut leaped onto Feliz's back, "Who's ready to get hot and sweaty! Hahaha!" he pumped a fist in the air. Feliz almost fell if it weren't for Hugo balancing him, "If by sweating from training you mean, then yes." Hugo replied. Chestnuts smile grew, "Welllll-" he led on to what he was hinting at until Kore intervened, "Dude, why you still trying? You ate shit not even a minute of being split because you tried hitting on her." Kore tried talking some sense into the green idiot.

But Chestnut had a counter, "Like being a huntsmen Kore I'm DEDICATED!" he bawled out straightening up on Feliz's shoulders to look taller. Kore just sighed and decided to go back to not giving a damn, but he had a new problem as his tail began wrapping around his leg, he didn't exactly have full control of the tail, this was only his second time being out as a fanus.

Erin couldn't contain his excitement, "Ohhhh man I still can't believe I get to meet you guys in person, who would have ever thought, am I right!? And we get to be huntsmen TOGETHER! Who's ready!?" he exclaimed. Feliz raised his hand and accidentally smacked Chestnut, "Me!" he gleamed with sparkling eyes. Chestnut fell off Feliz his green aura protected, but he sure did feel it still "Yeah, I'm in." he groaned. Kore's ears stood up as he cracked his knuckles, "I get Chestnut as my sparring partner." he grinned. Chestnut still laying on the floor gave the finger. "Oh look, a birdy." Feliz bent down and poked the finger. "Are we ever going to use the classroom?" Hugo asked ignoring the ridiculousness.

"Alright alright you guys straighten up, don't make me put you back in the old brain now." he playfully joked knocking on his blew a raspberry at him before speaking, "If you can figure it out." he said with a cocky smirk. Suddenly everyone except Erin glowed before phasing into Erin, "WOW!" he freaked out and backed up. Once again he was alone, but not mentally, "_God! DAMNIT!" _Kore growled while Chestnut and Hugo a very loud and annoyed groans. "_Aaand we're back!"_ Feliz quipped. Erin ran his fingers through his shitty looking hair, "Oh no, oh shit, awwwww damnit!" he cursed himself. Using his semblance was one thing, controlling it was a whole other thing.

Lindiwe walked into the room with a fire of excitement in her eyes, but that seemed to diminish like a lit match being dipped in water when she saw only Erin, "Did you really?" her tone was so dry and desolate of emotion

Erin never saw Lindiwe looked so defeated before as he fiddled his fingers behind his back and slightly kicked at the ground from his own disappointment.

Both of their disappointment converted to surprise when a vertical red line sliced through the air behind Erin out of nowhere. It grew wider as it shimmered several different shades of red and glowed brightly. It confused the hell out of Erin as he wondered what was going on, but Lindiwe seemed to pale. Her irises dilated as she drew in a sharp breath, but she quickly shot herself forward and aggressively pulled Erin behind her by the neck collar causing him to yelp in response. "GET BACK AND STAY BEHIND ME!" she hissed through her primal gritted teeth, her words burned with hatred that made Erin gulp and back away. Fishhook Barrel was already out and pointed at the portal. His personalities were just as awe struck from what was happening.

A figure stepped through the portal, a woman whose face was covered by a large bony mask with red accents. She wore red high heels, black leggings that stopped at her thighs, and a short black combat skirt with a belt and a raven symbol on a red cloth along the skirt. Her top was red and black with some necklaces around her neck, her arms were scaled in red armor with a counter spike on the elbows. Her hair was a maze of black locks, a bandana was wrapped in it, but there was still so much of it sprawling out. The largest thing she wore was the black bulky metal sheath on her side with a sword hilt sticking out.

"Ugh, who is she." Erin asked

"Raven Branwen." Lindiwe spat those words with acidic venom. _"I don't think their friends." _Feliz pointed out for no reason. _"You know I wasn't quite sure until you pointed it out, thanks Feliz."_ Kore said full of sarcasm.

The portal behind Raven diminished, "Hello old friend." she spoke calmly. Lindiwe seethed more at those words, "We are **NOT** friends, we were never friends." her glare could set a whole village up in flames. Raven put put a hand on her hip, "You and your team were starting to grow on me, but like me you learned the truth… and you picked the wrong side of the fight." her tone grew darker.

_"The truth?" _Hugo questioned, _"We should remember that." _he took note of.

"DON'T!" she growled, "Don't you dare blame me for what **YOU** did!". Under her mask Raven furrowed her brow, "My brother and I have a tribe to protect, and when you decided to take up arms against her I had to stop you or my tribe would have been slaughtered-!". "WHY ARE YOU HERE!?" Lindiwe finally asked the golden question in the form of a command, her grip wrenched tighter around her weapon.

Raven sighed and paused for a moment before answering, "I have the Spring Maiden…". That made Lindiwe go wide eyed and gasp from surprise.

The Spring Maiden? What was that? Who was that? And why did Lindiwe sound so surprised to hear about it? Chestnut spoke up, "_Am I the only one who's lost?" _he asked, and everyone agreed.

Lindiwe shook her head, "Your lying." she said in denial. But Raven continued, "I need your help training her." she explained. "Why do you need my help, you have a whole tribe of thieves and murderers, including yourself." her words shot like bullets, but Raven brushed them off with a role of her eyes under the helmet. "I'm having more difficulty than anticipated, she's too scared to try anything and my patience is drying up, but you, you have the skills to teach combat in a reasonable amount of time. We can-".

"NO! I refuse to help you in any way!" Lindiwe held her weapon firmly. Raven looked over Lindiwe's shoulder and scoffed, "What's this supposed to be? What makes him more important than the maiden!?" her words bite back hard. "You stay away from him you **BITCH!**" her voice was harsh, it burned like fire yet her words were cold as ice. Erin was legit scared, never had she heard Lindiwe sound so intended to kill someone before, she was always a woman who valued life, more preferably nature.

"Does he know?" she asked like she already knew the answer. Lindiwe's skin crawled when she felt Erin's gaze on the back of her head, all the questions he was piling up would have to wait. "Watch your tongue Branwen…" she hissed, "Leave. Now.", like a snake ready to strike, or a tiger ready to pounce on its prey… she wasn't going to ask twice before striking.

Raven growled, "It's foolish to try and fight against her!" she snapped having enough of the ignorance.

"I will never side with you again, not after you betrayed your friends, YOUR FAMILY!" Lindiwe felt like bawling on her knees, seeing her again opened too many past wounds that ooze blooded memories from Beacon, and from the family she once had.

"The tribe **IS** my family you know." her tone softened on that last part.

Lindiwe's bottom lip quivered as a single tear strolled down her face, "So was she." she whispered before lunging at Raven screaming at the top of her lungs.

***CHIIIIIIINNNG!***

Raven unsheathed her red katana halfway to block Fishhook Barrel, sparks flew like fireflies. Lindiwe swung the other side of her weapon to club Raven across the head, but was knocked back by a high heel to the stomach.

Raven drew her whole sword to show off its length.

Feliz was surprised, "_Wow... that's a long sword." _he stated the obvious. Leaving an opening for Chestnut, "_That's what she-!". _"Not now!" Erin growled at him.

Lindiwe grunted before rushing Raven again with Raven doing the same, their blades sang in sync as they clashed. Raven was quick to side step causing Lindiwe to fall forward while Raven slashed at her back, her aura protected her body but the cloak was in two. Lindiwe winced and arched her back despite her aura taking the damage.

Raven went for an attack, but Lindiwe side swept the other way and dashed behind her, causing Raven to miss. She turned around to see Lindiwe's blade missing only to discover the sickle wrapped around her ankle when Lindiwe recoiled the wire back which resulted in Raven falling on her back.

Lindiwe didn't waste a second, leaping into the air with Fishhook Barrel over head while letting out a battle cry and an intent to kill. Raven rolled to her left for Lindiwe to strike the metal ground. Raven stood with a grunt and rushed Lindiwe, but she recovered quickly to dodge the red katana and parried a few more slashes. Lindiwe flung her cloak at Raven to momentarily blind her and kicked her back to get some distance and sent a few shots at Raven who easily blocked them with her sword, but sheathed it afterward.

Lindiwe unhooked her cloak and let it fall to her feet, this morning was not going how she planned. Ravens sword had a cylinder with multiple colors on it that spun till landing on red. Raven drew her sword rapidly at Lindiwe sending a wave of fire. Lindiwe dolphin dived over it and rolled to her feet before sending a horizontal attack that Raven predicted as she threw her sword over Lindiwe, ducked under the blade to the left, caught her sword behind Lindiwe, and drove her blade into her back. She would have been impaled if her aura hadn't held strong.

Lindiwe growled out loud before angrily turning and slapping the blade off her back. Raven held the blade backward and went for a slice, but Lindiwe caught her wrist. Raven head butted Lindiwe causing her to let go and kicked Fishhook Barrel out of Lindiwe's grasp as she was stunned.

Erin pulled at his hair, "Dammit! We should help!" he struggled to form a plan, but Hugo intervened, "_NO! We'll only get in the way."_.

Raven went for a downward slice, but Lindiwe once again caught her by the wrist. Raven threw a punch with her free hand, but Lindiwe ducked and pulled Ravens arm behind her wrist and twisted. Raven bit down on the yelp of pain from discomfort as she dropped her sword, she needed to get free of this position. Raven basically did a donkey kick with both legs into Lindiwe which got her free, then she turned and charged at her. As Raven's fist was about to make contact, but Lindiwe fell back while grabbing on to Raven to bring her down with her, she put her feet on Ravens stomach and launched her into the air with aura induced legs. Lindiwe kick flipped up and picked up her weapon, and while Raven was still in the air she launched the sickle upward being attached to a wire for it to wrap around Raven. Lindiwe cried out as she pulled down with might, Raven under the mask had a face of surprise before slamming into the metal floor causing Erin to wince a bit.

Raven's red aura shielded her, and while her arms were bonded to her sides because of the wire, she grabbed a smoke pellet from her pocket and crushed it.

***POP!***

A small cloud of smoke bloomed around Raven, engulfing her in grey. Lindiwe recalled the wire back, but Raven was gone.

After a few seconds the smoke began to diminish, but where Raven should have been were just feathers. Lindiwe widened her eyes and brought her weapon up.

"Behind you!" Erin warned.

Lindiwe turned in time to counteract a red katana and look into the death glare of an angry Raven. Raven sent a kick to the ribs and an uppercut to the chin, then she punched across Lindiwe's face and pressed through to hit her with the counter spike on her elbow till finally she did a three sixty turn around and landed a punch square in the face. Lindiwe had the taste of steel in her mouth as she rubbed her jaw, but quickly recovered and rushed in to attack.

The next few minutes consisted of steel connecting with steel, shots being fired, and some neat flips and tricks.

"So what the crap was that earlier?" Erin asked. Feliz replied first, _"I saw a birdie, and then a lady."_. Kore agreed, _"Yeah I saw that to, that shit was weird." _he cursed in confusion. _"Perhaps it is her semblance." _Hugo stated seeing no other real explanation. Chestnut spoke last, _"Semblance or not, that's the sexiest bird I've ever seen. Hehehe."_ he chuckled creepily.

In the midst of the fight Raven sheathed her sword and the cylinder on her sheath spun to yellow. Lindiwe went in for an attack before Raven could try anything. Raven drew her sword out for it be a bright yellow with a few sparks emitting off it. Lindiwe knew she had been baited, but it was too late to stop herself.

Volts of electricity surged through her muscles making her spas wildly. Her eyes rolled back, her mouth just made unclear noises, and her aura glowed while taking the damage.

Raven smiled under her mask before Lindiwe managed to press a button on her weapon. The sickle of Fishhook Barrel shot out ant hit Raven in the chest. With Raven's aura protecting her she leapt back, leaving a numb Lindiwe to barely stand on her own. Lindiwe legs wobbled from keeping her unresponsive body standing, she started to bring her weapon up, ready for more smoke.

_"Guys we should really help!" _Feliz cried out in desperation. The voice of reason spoke, _"How can we help without getting ourselves killed or getting Lindiwe hurt because she has to protect us!" _Hugo barked back. Erin was having a decision battle with himself.

Raven cherished the fight in her old friend, but all good things had to come to an end. Raven sheathed her sword and the cylinder spun blue, Raven then withdrew her sword for it to be blue and covered in frost. Lindiwe built up the might to go in for a swing, but Raven slashed the air in front of her sending and arch of blue energy that hit Lindiwe, and sent her flying into one of the glass walls of a training sector.

The ice dust froze over her limbs and body, pinning her to the wall. Lindiwe struggled to get free and to her delight the ice began to crack, but Raven had switched to lighting dust again and touched her cheek with the tip of the blade.

"DTHFFFFFFFFFF!" some spit sot from her mouth as the electrical current tensed her muscles. Her whole body felt like it was vibrating violently to the point of pain.

_"DAMNIT ERIN DO SOMETHING!" _Kore growled.

"I really did come here for your help, we could have been powerful together…" Raven changed her sword back to normal and placed it over Lindiwe's jugular, "But seeing how you're still holding a grudge, maybe I should just relieve you of your pain, it would benefit both of us." she said in a soft tone getting ready to finish the fight.

"STOP!"

Raven frowned under the mask as she turned around to see Erin.

"E-Erin… n-nooo." Lindiwe breathed out to try and tell him to save himself. He wouldn't win against her, even with his personalities, but she was too weak to scream, her voice was barely a whisper.

_"Semblance, now! Surprise her!"_ Chestnut encouraged.

Erin held his ground and tried activating his semblance, but to no avail.

"Your very selfless to help someone who isn't exactly honest with you…" Raven faced him and returned the katana into its home, "But I'm still curious as to why she chose you." she began walking toward him, her heels echoed through the room.

Erin tensed a bit at this, what was his plan after 'STOP!' again? _"Erin, now would be a good time to let us out!" _Kore pointed out getting frustrated. "I'm trying, I don't know how!" he whispered quietly to himself. _"Well why the hell did you unsplit us?!"_ Kore growled back. "I just thought of you guys being back in my head!" Erin's whisper grew louder.

"Speak up if you have something to say boy." Raven demanded.

This time Hugo spoke, _"Think about splitting us then, we'll use our aura to help you.". _Erin didn't seem to have much of a choice but to try. This woman would probably kill Lindiwe if he didn't, regardless if she was holding a secret from him, he didn't want to see her die. He would have to find out once this was over.

Erin began taking slow steps back.

Raven snickered under the mask, "Why are you so nervous? I would have thought Lindiwe to pick someone brave to train under her-".

Erin's body shone bright white cutting Raven off and freezing her in her path to see what was happening. Erin's aura began to split into several colors before his aura returned to brown.

Raven's eyes began to grow into saucers behind the mask, "Impossible." she whispered.

The colored lights that split from Erin began to morph into the form of people until the auras finished making the forms of Kore Chestnut Feliz, and Hugo.

Raven took her helmet off and let it drop to the ground, her face was a cream color, and her eyes were blood red. And yes she was hot.

"You… you found a Split Walker." Raven said not taking her eyes off the now five boys in front of her. This should be impossible, Salem said she had them all killed centuries even before the Great War, that semblance should be extinct, how she could be alive for that long Raven didn't know. She didn't ask questions, she just did as she was told for the safety of the tribe. Salem would be most pleased with her for bringing him to her, or maybe she could convince Salem to let her keep it as a member of her tribe.

"We don't exactly think it's a cool name but yeah, that's what we are." Erin stated firmly and to be a smartass.

Raven took a step forward, "Erin, was it? Do you know anything about Lindiwe?" she asked trying to build up to convincing.

"What's it yo ya." Kore's ears poked up as he bared his tiger fangs and growled. Feliz stepped up, "You just attacked her, why!?" he shouted.

Raven closed her eyes and sighed, "She's just using you to cope with guilt you know." she said knowingly.

Lindiwe still stunned and pinned by ice, hung her head in shame, knowing what Raven was referring to. Erin saw this, and while he was confused and angry with her at the moment, he felt some sympathy for her.

"You can stay with her and likely die trying to full fill some impossible mission like she did last time, and let me just say her failure came with a price." Raven let those words hang in the air, but to Lindiwe they carried the weight of the world. Lindiwe clenched her fists and eyes shut, trying not to let the tears spring out.

Kore furrowed his brow while Chestnut and Hugo exchanged glances.

Raven continued "Or.." she held out her hand, "You could join me.".

"NO!" Lindiwe cried out snapping her head up, tears seeped out of her eyes.

Raven ignored her and continued her effort to win him over, "I've bested her, she's clearly too weak for you, but with me, you can be so much more." she said in a soothing voice. Her eyes seemed so soft and trusting, no lies flicked across her face, and no hitches in her tone gave away the feeling of hesitation.

"NO! Erin! Erin look at me, please, please! Don't do this!" Lindiwe cried out in utter terror and desperation, her bottom lip quivered and her eyes bawled streams of water. She couldn't lose anyone else, not to the likes of her.

"I can answer all your questions, you can get the truth that you deserve to know. You can be apart of a tribe that trusts each other and treat one another like family, and if your willing enough I can train you into a strong huntsmen, because that's what decent huntsmen do with their students." Raven drew those sharp words at Lindiwe specifically.

Lindiwe let out a sob as she bawled more, "Erin please! I'm sorry, I'm so sorry!" she cried.

Raven took a step forward and leaned in, "You have a very special gift Erin… don't waste it here, you'll only risk getting killed. Join me, you'll be safe, and eventually you can handle anything the world throws at you." she finished with a heart filled smile, she sounded like a mother, so calm and soothing. He felt safe with her, but he didn't want to leave Lindiwe, she had gotten him this far. However if he was at risk of death being with her, why continue training by her side, on the other hand, he had just met this Raven chick, why trust what she said.

Erin looked at Raven, then looked past her to Lindiwe who's eyes were shimmering with tears. She seemed scared, was she scared to lose him? Did she care that much? What was he saying, this isn't right, he shouldn't have to think about who to pick sides with. Lindiwe had been so eager to protect him when Raven first showed up, Lindiwe mentioned Raven killed someone, and Raven said she was with bandits. Bandits were bad guys! "I think I'll take my chances here." Erin replied with a smirk.

Lindiwe had never felt more relief in her life, she smiled and let a few tears of joy spill, the amount of weight lifted off her chest was indescribable. Only one problem, she was pinned, and Raven was still with Erin.

Raven frowned at this and dropped her hand.

Chestnut stepped forward, "Well Ravebabe, I think I'm down for any kind of training with you." he winked with a sly grin. Hugo, Feliz, and Erin turned and shot him looks while Raven's eyes stared daggers at him. "I-I mean, BROS BEFORE HOES!" he raised a fist up ready to fight.

But what shifted the feeling in the atmosphere…

Is when Kore stepped forward.

* * *

**Not dead or quitting, just got school work.**


	8. Chapter 8

Personal Split

A RWBY fanfic story

By Donovan Ray Castillo

Chapter 8

**Many years ago**

Three months after Lindiwe had unlocked her semblance she's come far in her training from her father and at Imperial Academy which was the academy before going to Shade Academy, but now Lindiwe and her family were moving to Vale. She can still be a huntress, but she'll be finishing her last two years at Signal Academy, then graduate as an official huntress at Beacon. Lindiwe had it all planned out, but leaving Vacuo was going to be hard, she's said her goodbyes to her friends, the Wukong's, and she finally got to meet the bikers without the helmet, so yeah, it was definitely hard.

They woke up quite early, so the shattered moon still hung dimly in the speckled sky as the family rode on their camels. Lindiwe and her father were on one camel while Banko and Lindiwe's mother Uzoma were on the other, they packed what important stuff they could to take with them to the top of the canyon where there would be a landing pad for transport ships and other aircraft. Lucky for them her Uncle Adongo is a merchant who was more than happy to give them a 'ride', being legal or not. They weren't poor, but a free ride was a free ride, and they had Vacuo currency to trade for Vale currency to own a shelter and put food on the table.

The top of the canyon was more sandy, but there was still grass and trees with a path leading to different parts of the canyon and to the docking bay. "So… where are we going to stay in Vale?" Lindiwe asked behind her father.

"Vale city has plenty apartments and other residential areas for us to stay in, but *sigh* your mother insists on picking where we stay." he slumped his shoulders, "Because... she's my desert flower." he stated like he was forced to say it.

Uzoma on the other camel hummed in approval, "A mother knows best." she said confidently, "And I have good taste in decor, so just imagine what I'll do when we're not living in a mountain, EEEEE!." she squealed in delight, she loved her job in decor. It was a more wanted job in Vacuo than you'd think. "Oh the carpets, the curtains, ohhhh honey the PAINTINGS! Vale will have it all! But I will miss the plants in Oasis, such beautiful flowers." Uzoma continued to dream of a life in Vale while Banko fell asleep on her back. Lindiwe resembled her mother in some areas, Uzoma has the long braided hair, but it was kept in a ponytail by colorful scrunchies and was glamored with charms and beads, her apricot eyes were lighter than Lindiwe's, both had same skin tone, but they both dressed differently. Uzoma wore a yellow, green, orange, and blue shape patterned, strapless attire dress that hung more in the back than in the front and wore a gold and blue headdress that Lindiwe's father got for their anniversary.

Lindiwe laughed, "If we get a house she's gonna make it look like a palace." she snickered. Atsu shook his head and blew out a long stream of air, "I wouldn't joke about, she's a very ambitious woman, god help the job industry she gets into, she'll practically be running it by next week." he exaggerated. They both chuckled.

"You two talking about me?" Uzoma bit at them.

"Love you honey!" Atsu saved their skin. Lindiwe covered a laugh with her hand.

After a few minutes of camel riding and talking about a life in Vale, the airship docks came into view on the edge of the canyon. A rust bucket cargo ship rested on the platform, the only light source was the white moon light. Rust buckets were ships that were old and rusty, no matter what kind of ship it was, even the military used Rust buckets for transportation and or combat purposes. Vacuo didn't like wasting ANYTHING if the ship had an engine and could fly, it was put to use in some form or fashion. This was Uncle Adongo's rust bucket, it was rusted brown with some other discolored areas, the hull was rectangular, two tails on the top end with two long wings on the side folded up while the legs kept the ship off the ground.

The family hopped off the camels and unloaded their luggage. Atsu carried two bags on his back and one in his hand as he sharpened his eyes and looked around, "Brother? Brother where are you?" he called out for his twin. Lindiwe walked to her father's side, "Maybe he's taking a leak?" she suggested not too confident in her answer.

There was a cold breeze that gave off a bad feeling. Like a warning that something really wasn't right.

A few crates were stacked on the platform full of cargo and ready to be shipped off, but where was the pilot? The family stood on the metal platform in front of a lonesome ship looking like they were lost travelers with their luggage in hand. "Adango! Where are you brother?" they walked toward the ship, but they stopped when they heard a what sounded like a metal pipe falling on the ground.

Their eyes darted to the side of the ship that was blanketed in it's dark shadow. Banko clutched harder to his mother's leg and hummed a whine while Uzoma stood in front of him, "Atsu what is that?" she asked clearly startled. "Adango? Is that you brother?" Atsu walked towards the noise, but Lindiwe grabbed his hand from fear. Atsu gave her a look that said 'It's ok', Lindiwe reluctantly let go of his hand.

Atsu turned back to see a figure in the darkness that outline his brother, he knew it was him, "Adango what happened? You had us worr-" his words jammed in his throat as every muscle fiber in his body tensed. Lindiwe's stomach dropped somewhere it shouldn't be, she couldn't even scream because of how blank her mind was from control. Uzoma looked like she was about to throw up as she looked away and knelt down to cover Banko's eyes.

Uncle Adongo came walking- no, limping out from the cover of the ship's large shadow with his pilot uniform stained with blood. His red coated hands clutched tightly to his gushing bloody neck, "R...Run." he gurgled with a cough of blood decorating his uniform. The warm biofluid dotted his path as he limped out into the light, and if things couldn't have been more horrifying his chest suddenly exploded with a red dripping scorpion stinger poking through.

The blood now painted at their feet, Lindiwe looks down to feel the warm red liquid seeping between her toes. She lets out a high pitched scream and starts kicking the air like her feet were covered in ants.

Atsu had no words, nor a thought about the events he was witnessing. His twin brother who he played with, laughed with, grew up with, now had a scorpion tail through his chest. WHY WASN'T HE MOVING! HELP HIM! But that tail, **THAT**, tail could only belong to one person, no, he didn't even consider him a person, more like a Grimm and worse.

Adongo took one last look at his brother before his hands fell from his neck and his head went slack, like a puppet getting its strings cut. A cold breeze blew past everyone to remind them they were not dreaming as life faded from his eyes.

The tail hooked Adongo's limp corpse and dragged him back into darkness, leaving a trail of blood to stray in his path. "NOOO!" Atsu roared finally forcing himself to reach out to his brother, but a loud maniacal cackle made him back away from the dark shadow.

The night seemed to darken and grow colder. Stars in the sky even felt fear, hiding their light, for there seemed to be less of them.

Atsu pushed his fear stricken family back from the ship and cracked out Rattlesnake. A pair of yellow eyes poked through the shadows cast. The eyes gave a murderous glare and another psychotic laugh.

The owner of the eyes stepped out into the light holding up the limp corpse. Lindiwe wanted to throw up, her body began to shake as Banko began to cry. Uzoma held his head tightly to her chest, but even she wished that she could be held right now. This had to be a nightmare, this couldn't be real!

A pale man with yellow eyes that spelled 'bad guy' emerged. His brown hair was braided and in a ponytail to look like a scorpion's tail. He where's a white sleeveless jacket with leather belts strapped to it, along with white pants. Leather boots reached all the way up to his knee cap which had a metal cap guard on each knee. Leather arm guards protected his forearms with metal gauntlets. Scars on his chest marked him of past battles from other murders.

The man brought his hand up to the dead uncle's jaw and mimicked a deep voice, "Oh no! My annoying brother couldn't keep his nose to himself and now I'm deeeead. Bleeeeh!" he stuck his tongue out to mimic a dying noise. "HAHAHAHAHAHA!" he dropped the body and laughed a hearty laugh, but it sent chills up Lindiwe's spin.

Atsu seethed with anger his veins bulged with one hundred degree blood, "I'll kill you Callows!" he roared. Atsu wanted to attack, but that risked leaving his family open to danger.

Tyrion's smile grew to his ears as he squealed in delight and rubbed his hands together, "Well it's a good thing we have an audience…". Atsu felt a drop of sweat bead on his forehead, knowing who he was referring to. "Cause it's gonna be one hell of a SHOW!" the metal parts on Tyrian's gauntlets extended into blades resembling scorpion claws as he jumped at him with flesh hungry blades.

Atsu shoved his family to the side before Atsu blocked the blades and had Tyrian crash into him, but he used his falling momentum to push the laughing fanus over him. The metal pad screeched as Tyrian dug his claws down to halt him, leaving a trail of sparks. Tyrian was only amused by the fight.

Atsu gained his stance once again, "Run! Get to the ship NOW!" he screamed. Atsu cracked the whip at Tyrian causing him to flinch back. "Ohohohohhehehe!" Tyrian giggled. Atsu cracked at him again, but Tyrian was prepared, he raised his arm so the thong of the whip coiled around his forearm. Both men resorted in a tug of war, until Tyrian smirk grew with an idea.

Tyrian let go of the whip causing Atsu to fall back. Tyrian cackled as he leapt into the air with his blades out and intent to kill. As Tyrian dawned on him, Atsu caught both of Tyrian's wrist, being sure to not accidentally grab the blade. Tyrian let his tongue hang from his smiling face as two barrels revealed themselves from the top of his wrists from the gauntlets.

Tyrian laughed like a lunatic as he opened fire near Atsu's head. The bullets sparked only hitting metal, but the noise was deafening to Atsu as he struggled more to keep Tyrian's guns aimed away from his face.

Lindiwe looked back at the sound of gun fire and drew a sharp breath, "*gasp!* DAD!" she screamed. Before she could rush in to save him her wrist was grabbed. Uzamo glared at her as she pulled her to the open door, small stairs extended out from the door, "Get on!" she ordered, Banko already running up the stairs crying. "But dad!". "GET ON!" Uzamo yelled not having it. Lindiwe didn't look back as to fight the urge to run back and help him, but she complied. Trailing up the stairs behind her brother.

Tyrian held fire as to not waste amoe, the growing smile on his face said he had a new idea. Tyrian began pushing Atsu's arms out wide to expose his face better.

Atsu was thankful that the shooting stopped, but the deafening ring in his ear made him a bit delirious. He kept fighting against Tyrian's hold even while he was pushing his arms out. Atsu looked up at Tyrian in his now purple eyes.

Atsu went saucer eyed as he reared his head right to avoid a stinger! Then left to avoid another strike! Tyrian cackled as he was about to strike again, but Atsu thought fast and let Tyrian push his arms to the sides.

Tyrian was taken back a bit at the sudden drop of his head, but that confusion soon restored to shock and pain as Atsu slammed his forehead into his nose. "Grahhh!" Tyrian howled holding his nose, his aura making quick work to heal it.

Atsu threw his legs over head and back rolled onto his feet to see Tyrian with his guard down, he smiled and went in for the attack, twisting the handle of his whip so it sharpened itself into a long javelin. Atsu jumped through the air to strike at the maniac.

Tyrian smiled through his hands as his bait plan worked, back flipping in time to doge a sharp metal point, but to also kick Atsu in the face.

Atsu growled in pain and frustration, rubbing his jaw and swallowing the taste of steel. Atsu swung his javelin for Tyrian to block who then used his tail to sweep at Atu's feet, but he jumped over it easily. Tyrian followed up with a laugh and several attacks with his claws and tail, keeping Atsu on the defense.

Atsu parried left! Then right! And a few stingers here and there. Tyrian was fast and a master with using his tail in combat, it only made him a better assassin. Atsu needed to take the offensive position back!

Tyrian gave himself a height boost with his tail, and brought his claw down on the tip of Rattle Snake to pin his weapon. In one movement, like a machine Tyrian slashed at Atsu's face and roundhouse kicked him, luckily he had his aura up to prevent any permanent damage. He was lucky to maintain such a strong grip on his weapon.

"ATSU!" Uzamo cried to her husband.

"Stay back!" he growled a bit more with rage than he meant to.

Tyrian just smiled wider, "Oh the romance drama! The girl is put in the face of danger and the hero has to save her…" he licked his lips, "I've got another ending with different plans for her though, hehehHEHAHAHAHAHAAAAAA!" he cracked up like he just heard the world's best joke.

Atsu never felt more of a temper meltdown in his life. His teeth gritted, his glare heated the air, he snarled like a wild animal and screamed like one to, "RRRAAAGGGHHH!" he wouldn't dare let this man lay a hand on his wife or family!

Tyrian sent a flurry of bullets spraying towards him, but Atsu's aura had them richoshading off him, his body sparked where the bullets tried to draw blood. Tyrian frowned and dashed forward for both weapons to clash and send a small shockwave to send the sand around them to be lost with their thousands of other friends.

Tyrian stared his purple gaze directly into Atsu's heated green one, "She was right you know. You're getting a little slow old man!" he taunted.

They both pushed each other back and went right back to fighting, Tyrian went for a kick, but Atsu was quick to duck and slam Tyrian in the ground by the waist. Then he grabbed his tail, making sure he didn't get stung, and swung him around until releasing. Sending him crashing into a stack of crates that weren't stacked any longer. Some crates spilled their contents in the form of several colorful crystals.

Atsu looked towards Uzamo, "Get the ship started!" he ordered, but he didn't make it sound like he was angry this time. Uzamo gave a pained expression, but nodded and retreated into the ship.

Tyrian popped from the pile of crates and rested on his tippy toes, like a frog stance on a row of still standing crates. With a smile he used his tail to knock over a crate.

***clink!***

***clink!***

***clink!***

***clink!***

***clink!***

***clink!***

Several crystals of blue and red sprinkled over the platform to Atus feet. He looked back up to Tyrian to see him with a nightmarish grinn, and a blue and red crystal in each hand. He laughed and threw the crystals and pointed his guns at them being in mid air.

Atsu widened his eyes and stretched an arm out, "NOOOO-!"

***BOOM!"**

The explosion trained a chain reaction of the other crystals.

***BOOM!"**

***BOOM!"**

***BOOM!"**

***BOOM!"**

***BOOM!"**

***BOOM!"**

The mix of fire and water dust exploding created a thick moist steam that stretched across the platform and near the ship.

Lindiwe looked out the windshield, "Mom something's happening!" she pointed, but Uzamo seemed preoccupied. "Honey I want to help your father, but I need help finding the ships manual! Or calm your brother down!" she shouted over a crying Banko.

Lindiwe looked between her scared crying brother and her mother who was looking through the glove boxes.

Atsu fell on his knees and blinked several times, the ringing in his ears was worse then from Tyrian shooting near him. His vision was a haze of dark cloudiness, or was that the steam? The air felt strange to breath, like moisture from a shower, it was warm and left a strange feeling in his throat.

He straightened himself up when he swore he saw something moving in the mist. He pointed his weapon at the spot he saw the- "WOAH!".

He yelped as he took a step back. The world seemed to move in slow motion as a dark brown stinger darted past his eyes with a purple essence dripping from the tip.

The tail retracted like a snake back into the haze of steam, followed by a laugh of pure loss of sanity.

Atsu felt the sweat trace his jaw line, or was that the steam residue? Maybe both? DAH! Who cares? FOCUS!

Tyrian monkey jumped through the steam and onto Atsu's back and stabbed into his back. To Tyrian's disappointment, Atsu's armor and aura protected him, even his stinger couldn't penetrate.

Atsu grabbed Tyrian by the arm and spun around before flinging him off him with a grunt. Tyrian cartwheeled into the clouded air with a laugh.

A few seconds later Atsu squinted at an eerie purple glow that seemed to call for him from the mist, but as it grew closer, Atsu brought his weapon up in defense. Tyrian came bursting out laughing, "YAAAHAHAHA!" with purple eyes and purple aura covered hands.

Shit! His semblance! Atsu freaked as he dodged the fast attack, Tyrians stinger tearing a piece of cloth off his clothing. As long as Tyrian was using his semblance Atsu was in more danger of being poisoned even with his aura.

Tyrian can disrupt a person's aura where he touches them, allowing him to deliver a sting or killing blow.

Tyrian continued to sneak attack from every direction. Not getting any strikes, but a few cuts that frustrated Atsu further.

Atsu's aura was getting lower, he needed an out.

Wait.

The steam!

Maybe he could use this for his semblance.

Atsu closed his eyes and began to focus. He needed to focus hard to use his semblance, but over the years it became increasingly easier to use in stressful situations. He just needed to clear his mind, feel the area around him.

The breeze waving in the air, pushing around the steam. The warm water particles dancing with each other in the air. In the area around them, he could feel every movement of each particle.

Suddenly, particles behind him began to shift erratically, like a fly in a spider's web. The movement was traveling at breakneck speed right at him.

Tyrian striked through fog like a dart, a purple aura covered claw already going for the back of Atsu's head. Atsu side step at the last second for Tyrian to land on all fours, striking the platform. Tyrian growled and tried to escape, but his ponytail was grabbed and pulled causing his head to follow, "Daaah!" he yelped.

Atsu continued with his attack in one swift motion by placing a foot between Tyrians shoulder blades, leaned back while placing his other foot on his lower back and heaving him over. Tyrian's head hit the platform first, then his chest, and so on until Atsu was on Tyrian like a surfboard.

Tyrian gritted his teeth as he wrapped his tail around Atsu's ankle and yanked him off. Tyrian rolled over into the fog cover and propped himself up using his tail. He needed to find an opening in all that armor, even a nick from his stinger will finish this fight.

Atsu rolled to his feet upon making contact with the ground, Rattlesnake already in position to strike, but once again he was met with dark cloudy vision of his surroundings.

Suddenly the sound of a jet engine powering on filled the silence. The gas turbines from the ship began to blow hot air from the thrusters which in turn blew away the steam like a leaf blower.

Uzamo upon hearing the ship turn on clenched her fists in front of her, "YES!" she cheered, "Thank you honey." she kissed Lindiwe's forehead and took the ship manual from her. Banko continued to cry, but when Uzamo cuddled him, he seemed to settle down to a few sobs and sniffles.

Lindiwe looked out the windshield in worry.

Atsu and Tyrian both now open for the moon to see, were covering their faces from the orange heated thrusters force of air until it died down to a warm constant breeze.

Tyrian began to lose his patience, this fight was taking longer than it needed to. He broke into a sprint while dragging his blades on the platform causing them to cry tears of bright sparks.

Tyrian activated his semblance while leaping into the air and reared his claw back. Atsu timed it right to side step and slash at Tyrian.

Atsu often used the javelin form as a long fencing sword or saber.

Uzamo left Banko to Lindiwe while she went to the lower deck of the ship and lowered the rear cargo ramp to see her husband and the scorpion fanus fighting.

Tyrian hissed and rubbed his chest where he had been slashed at, his aura kept him unharmed.

Atsu switched the grip on his weapon so he was holding it by the pointed tip. He swung the handle of the weapon up into Tyrian's chin making his teeth clack and eyes roll back, "AHHH!" he groaned loudly. Atsu let go of Rattlesnake so the handle spun in the air for him to catch and send three more slashes at Tyrians aura protected body. Tyrian made an effort to take the offense and shot his stinger abit weakly, obviously a bit delirious from the blow to the jaw. Atsu caught the tail by the telson, a stream a purple poison inched down his hand. Atsu aggressively pulled the tail past him and drove the tip of Rattlesnake into Tyrians abdoman. Tyrians aura pooled in the spot that was getting stabbed, not letting a centimeter of penetration through, and as Astu put more pressure, Tyrians aura worked harder to deflect it.

Tyrian could feel the pain increase in his abdomen which made him snap out of his little haze. He activated his semblance around his tail, causing it to glow purple and disrupt the aura around Atsu's hand. Atsu became shocked as awareness struck him like the bullet that grazed his hand. "AHHH!" he yelped releasing Tyrians tail and making the mistake of letting his guard down. Tyrian slapped Rattlesnakes blade off him and leg swept Atsu with his tail, and as quick as the eye could catch he kicked Atsu in the stomach as he was falling, sending him rolling across the metal platform.

"Atsu!" Uzamo ran down the ramp to reach her fallen husband, but the ground in front of her bloomed into sparks. Tyrian stood smiling with his wristed gun barrels smoking, "Now now, you'll get your turn, heheheh!" he hooted with laughter, his glare locking onto Atsu rising form.

He stood, retaining his balance, "Don't Uzamo! Keep the children safe!" he held his side with an eye closed.

Tyrian tapped his fingers together in rapid succession and squealed in delight like a little girl getting a giant teddy bear, "Oh yes the children! I just can't waaaait to meet **them**." his face morphed into a deep scowl, and his eyebrows became closer friends, but were separated by the scrunched up skin between them. His sudden change to psychotic fun to murderous intent was strange, but his expression was very real. Every scruntched muscle in his face screamed rage while his eye's thirsted an unquenchable blood lust.

With his aura hanging on the edge, and his weary muscles trying to keep them down, he stood up taking heavy breaths, looking right back at Tyrian. The force of their gazes seemed to make the ground shake a bit, or it was just vibrations from the ship. "Despite having an aura Tyrian *huff* you have no **SOUL!"** he spat those words with venom of his own.

Tyrian crouched into a low position, his tail made a few sickening clicks as it snaked over his shoulder and above his head. His scowl twisted into its usual wicked V shape smile, "Then I have... no **FEAR**." he hissed.

Atsu let out a battle cry before charging and snatching his weapon from the ground and going for a stab, but Tyrian jumped over him doing a front flip while his tail choked around his neck. "Grr.. kla! *cough!* *gasp!* DRAH!" he dropped his weapon and brought his hands to his neck, the spiny exoskeleton poking into his skin as it coiled tighter.

Tyrian had landed on the other side of Atsu, both men facing back to back. Tyrian however was looking right at a terrified Uzamo.

"Let him go you monster!" she stomped forward. Trying to be intimidating with the glare and scowl.

Tyrian shook with laughter as he kicked into the back of Atsu's knee causing him to buckle down himself. Tyrian pulled him over with his tail, "GAK!" he choked, he was now looking Uzamo's way.

Uzamo gasped into her hand, tears building up in the corners of her eyes.

Tyrian brought his voice to Atsu's ear, "Oohhh just look at her, look at what you're doing to her. All because you wanted to try and be some hero! You can't stop what's coming,hmhmhmhmhm." Tyrian hummed a deep laugh as he used his semblance to make a cut down the side of his face and across his cheek, making Atsu grunt in pain.

Uzamo let the tears fall as she clenched her eyes shut, not wanting to see anymore.

Tyrian placed the cold barrel of his gun on Atsu's cheek, "I'd kill you right now, buuuut…" he redirected his gun at Uzamo with a growing toothy grin, Atsu's eyes went wide. He wanted to scream, but the tail crushing his jugular made that difficult.

"... I want you to know that actions, have consequences, HAHAHAHAHA!" he cackled releasing a swarm of bullets that zipped through the air like angry wasps.

At the same time, Uzamo was pushed out of the way by Lindiwe with Fishhook Barrel in hand and spun it to deflect the bullet storm.

Tyrian was a bit surprised, but his usual creepy smile hooked up again, "Oooohohooo, is that your daughter!? Let's see if she can keep up in a fight!" he quipped. Atsu grunted in anger trying to escape, but when he saw Tyrian's ponytail, He took a tight hold of it and pulled Tyrian over his shoulder and launched him forward.

Tyrian went with the pull and landed on his feet, releasing Atsu to balance himself with his tail.

"*GASP!* *COUGH!* *COUGH!*" Atsu held his sore throat before deciding to go in for a swing with his fist on the opposite facing Tyrian. Tyrian had seen this coming, he smiled and hummed a laugh before doing a perfect split and bent over backwards with his tongue out and started shooting Atsu point blank in his aura protected gut.

Atsu backed up from the force of the surprise attack until he tripped over Tyrian's tail.

Tyrian smiled in realization. He found a soft spot.

Lindiwe gasped sharply as her eye lids revealed more eye, she seethed with anger before charging like a bull to the rescue.

"NO!" her mother reached out, but failed to restrain her.

Tyrian rolled backward on his hands, pushing himself with his tail on to his feet and brought his claws up into an 'X' shape to block a hook blade. Tyrian looked over to see a dark skinned girl with razor sharp orange eyes and a nasty scowl. Lindiwe backed off knowing she wouldn't break his defense, seeing him lick his lips made her almost want to throw up.

"You look just like your mother, hehehe…" Tyrian took a deep breath and got into a low fighting position, "Lets see if you can fight like your father! HA HAAA!" he shot forward and leaped into a front flip.

Lindiwe was shocked at the speed of his movement and brought her weapon up horizontally, but Tyrian slammed his tail on it before his feet made contact with the ground and slashed at her defenseless, yet aura protected body.

Lindiwe yelped and scurried backwards, having to let go of her weapon.

Tyrian cackled as he was about to attack again.

***CRACK!***

"AHHHHH!" Tyrian howled as he held his shoulder in pain, despite the aura protection, pain was always felt from an attack. It was like a thousand wasp stings in one spot. Tyrian growled in anger looking back to see Atsu cracking his whip on the ground as if saying 'Come at me!', "LINDIWE! Get back to the ship!" he barked.

"RAAHH!" Tyrian roared charging at his attacker.

Atsu was getting tired fast, Tyrian was fast, and he couldn't keep up with his stamina. He hated to admit it, but age was beginning to show in his fighting. That wasn't going to stop him from protecting his family and kicking this GUY'S ASS!

Tyrian sent a jab to his face , but Atsu used the bracer on his forearm to block it and spun to elbow him in the face. Tyrian backed away, but he shook it off and spun in the air to perform a sideways air flip and sent several attacks.

Atsu had to step back from a stinger strike and a metal claw all in one second, then upon Tyrian landing he went for an overhead stab, but Atsu raised his bracer to block it and sent a fierce jab to Tyrians abdomen followed by a uppercut which dazed Tyrian enough for Atsu to grab him by the neck, heave him up and smash Tyrians body hard enough into the platform to make a dent. Tyrian's aura held together with a shimmer of purple, but he seemed knocked out.

Uzamo ran up to Lindiwe and hugged her tight, threatening to break something.

Atsu seemed to relax and took a few seconds to catch his breath before stepping over Tyrian's knocked out form, "What were you thinking! I told you to get to the ship and STAY THEIR!" he raised his voice further.

"I just wanted to help!" Lindiwe tried to explain.

"NO!" he made Lindiwe flinch into her mother more, "You don't know what this man is capable of! You could have gotten hurt OR KILLED! How was I supposed to live with myself if you were killed today!" he continued to scream.

Uzamo was about to say something when her eyes saw movement behind her husband, "***GASP!* **ATSU BEHIND YOU!" she pointed.

Lindiwe saw it to and before Atsu could see what they were talking about, Lindiwe tripped her father with Fishhook Barrel. Atsu's paper thin luck saved him from a stinger that was now targeting Lindiwe. Lindiwe gasped and closed her eyes, but she didn't feel any pain, she opened them. The stinger was just inches from her eye, not being able to stretch further, it returned to the owner, Tyrian laughed like a mad man, "Nice save!" he crawled from the dented metal and started closing the distance between them.

Uzamo grabbed Lindiwe's hand, "Lindiwe get back!" she panicked.

"No mom stop!" Lindiwe struggled to keep her position, "I can-!" she could finish her sentence. Atsu was halfway off the ground when Tyrian placed a hand on his back and used him to perform a drop kick on Lindiwe in the chest with both heels.

It was like a hammer to her chest… it hurt, a lot. Lindiwe and her mother were sent sprawling to the ground, caught in each other's limbs.

Tyrian back kicked a now fully standing Atsu who fell into a back roll and onto his feet again. Atsu quickly switched to the javelin, the metal spike poking from the tip as the transformation was complete.

As both men were exchanging blows, Lindiwe helped her mother up before pointing the rifle of her weapon at Tyrian and went trigger happy.

Tyrian laughed while fighting Atsu as he used his tail to block the bullets, it tickled.

Lindiwe was dumbstruck… He was blocking bullets… WITH HIS TAIL! HOW TOUGH IS THIS GUYS TAIL!

Lindiwe twirled the blade to her side and ran into battle, ignoring her mother's cry to come back. It hurt, but she couldn't let her father do all the fighting.

Tyrian went for an under hand strike at the jugular, his blades didn't stab him, but Atsu's neck was snug like a glove between them. Tyrian cackled and fired a shot point blank range in his neck.

Atsu dropped to a knee into a coughing fit, his last bit of aura protected him before breaking.

Tyrian turned to the sound of footsteps and bent over backwards to see a silver hook blade on a wire slice past him.

Lindiwe growled at missing and recoiled the sickle to try and trip the fanus, but Tyrian backflipped with the help of his tail.

Lindiwe needed to give her father time to recover, but also not get herself killed… that would be difficult, this guy seemed to not mind killing a kid. Lindiwe held her weapon backwards and ran at Tyrian, her bullets reaching him first.

Tyrian laughed like a hyena blocking each bullet until Lindiwe was close enough to swing at him.

Lindiwe swung while also detaching the sickle of Fishhook Barrel, so when Tyrian blocked the shaft, the momentum of the blade being attached to the wire slashed across Tyrian's cheek.

Lindiwe recoiled it quickly and attacked with the blunt side of her weapon all in one movement.

Tyrian blocked that too, but was now looking down the open barrel of her gun.

Lindiwe didn't waste a second in unloading a round. The crushed bullet fell with a few taps on the ground.

Tyrian laughed as he had once again used his tail to block the bullet by covering his face and smacked the weapon out of his face with his tail. Lindiwe had backed up to avoid a claw slash.

Meanwhile Atsu had recovered enough to stand and grab his weapon, he could fight with a sore throat. The fallen weapon had returned to its masters grasp. Atsu charged with the tip of Rattlesnake eager for flesh.

Tyrian heard the fast paced footsteps and smiled, without looking he coiled his tail around the tip of Rattlesnake snake before it could make contact while he had blasted the last of his clip into Lindiwe. The impact of the bullets made her aura spike all over her body to protect her.

"NO! GUGH!" Atsu's breath hitched in his throat as he felt a sharp pain in his abdomen. A cold metal that had entered his body, being warmed by flesh and blood. Atsu could only stare at a smile of pearly white teeth and yellow piercing eyes. Atsu was first to let go of Rattlesnake, then Tyrian let the weapon befriend the platform once again.

Uzamo's scream was probably heard throughout the whole canyon.

Atsu's hands weakly grasped at Tyrian's wrist to keep the blade from entering further, the blood soaked his clothing and ran along the claw blade sheathed in his body.

"I'm disappointed Atsu…" Tyrian spoke in fake sadness, "I had thought someone who'd try to defy my mistress would have at least lived a few more fights with me, but I guess I expected too much…" Tyrian rose his stinger above his head and pointed in between Atsu's eyes, "How the mighty have fallen." he said rearing his stinger back.

"STOP!" Lindiwe's aura flared to life as a beacon of orange.

Tyrian's smile dropped and his grunts became more strained as he found himself fighting against… himself?!

Why couldn't he kill him!

Tyrian wanted to finish him, STING HIM! But it's like he had forgotten how to use his tail, or someone was holding it back. He tried sinking his blade further into Atsu's flesh, but he found himself retracting it.

Atsu grunted in pain as the blade was fully dismissed, and fell to the cold floor.

Lindiwe was at a loss of words… her semblance worked on FANUS TO! But only a little it seemed.

Tyrian looked at his hands in confusion before growling and went for another stab.

"I SAID STOP!" Lindiwe shouted with order.

Tyrian once again found himself fighting against his own movements, his body inching further than closer from Atsu's neck. Tyrian finally backed off, "RRRAAAGGHHH!" he growled in a haze of confused rage while holding his head. He looked over to the orange light that was Lindiwe's aura.

Tyrian spat out a howled roar of anger as he charged at her, his semblance made his hands glowa as his eyes turn a demonic purple, pleading to kill.

"GO AWAY!" Lindiwe ordered again, but this time it didn't work. Tyrian continued his prowl. "Stop right there!" she tried again, but to no avail. Lindiwe eyes went wide as she drew in a sharp breath.

Uzamo covered her daughter with her body as any mother would protect their daughter. She clenched her eyes and gave a silent goodbye, and waited for the feeling of death to consume her.

Tyrian reared a claw back, and- "GLAGHK!" Tyrian suddenly was yanked back by something snaking around his neck, causing him to choke. Tyrian tried to fight against what felt like a lead around his neck.

Tyrian wildly thrashed and slashed at the air between him and, Lindiwe and her mother. Spit shot from his mouth with his screams of frustration. He tried shooting them, but to Lindiwe and Uzamo's relief, they clicked empty, only making Tyrian cry out with wrath. Uzamo and Lindiwe began to back away, and a good thing to because Tyrian shot his stinger out far enough to where they were at making both females flinch away, "YOU STAY OUT OF MY HEAD!" his purple eyes cut directly into Lindiwe's.

Atsu was straining harder than he had this whole fight, sweat stung like ants into the long bloodied cut on the side of his face. His raisin wrinkled face creased while his clothes outlined his veiny muscles that were burning with energy use. Atsu wrapped the thong of the whip around his fore arm and pulled hard with sheer will power.

The cut on his abdomen cried in pain with tears of blood, but Atsu powered through it, biting down on the pain. Letting the killing sting be the fuel to the fire that was his arms and legs to work harder, DOUBLE TIME!

Tyrian began feeling weak, his head lighter than air, and his movements slowing. The tightness around his windpipe began suffocating him. He then found himself being pulled into a circle

Atsu began spinning around with Tyrian being the one spun, "GRAAHHH!" Atsu released Tyrian with a final cry of hardship. Sending him off the platform and plummeting into the canyon.

Atsu stared off where he had thrown Tyrian before pain decided to say hello. Atsu falling on a knee winced in pain, his palm decorated with crimson. Not a second later were Uzamo and Lindiwe there helping him to the ship.

Atsu turned a final glance at his brother, Adongo seemed to be staring back, but it was just a void that would suck the soul from your own eyes. How was he going to explain to his brother's wife that her husband died by a maniac because he was trying to smuggle his family a ride, why their daughter Arslan will grow up without a father! It infuriated him how his actions have now caught up with him. He felt like a shitty father and husband for dragging his family into this, for getting into this Secret War SHIT!

He wasn't the only one who found out during his years at Shade Academy.

Atsu collapsed with a pained grunt in the chair behind the two pilot seats.

Banko stood watching his injured father with red puffy eyes.

Uzamo kneeled in front of him and held his cheek, "Sweet heart, you know what a box with a red cross is right?" she asked trying to sound calm.

Banko nodded.

"I need you to find one, for your father, look on the walls and any of the lockers." she explained with urgency.

Banko nodded once more and ran off further into the ship to complete his objective.

Lindiwe had lifted her father's shirt and armor to reveal the wound to the moon, the blood shimmered in the white light.

Uzamo Turned on the lights to illuminate the area better, took off her head dress, and applied pressure to the wound.

Atsu winced, "Sssss, dah! I… I guess I know what to get you, mmph… for your birthday." he chuckled softly.

Uzamo half smiled at her husband's bad timing for humor, "Try not to talk so much." she said trying not to cry.

Atsu shifted his head to look at Lindiwe, who looked at the ground before remaking eye contact. "Despite me telling you to stay out of the way… you attacked anyway…".

"Atsu." Uzamo spoke in a stern tone, she clearly didn't want them to argue about this right now.

"F-father, I-I'm sorry, I couldn't let y-".

"And you ended up saving me, hehehe, I'm so proud… and so pissed, hehehe." he cut her off.

Uzamo and Lindiwe were both surprised at his reaction, but before they could answer, Banko came stomping in with a bulky white box with a red cross and red writing on it.

"Perfect sweetie!" she kissed his forehead before fiddling with the locks, Lindiwe keeping pressure. Banko looked out the windshield and tapped on his mother's shoulder and pointed out the windshield.

Uzamo looked out in confusion before she spotted a black cloud coming at them, but its movements didn't resemble a cloud at all, it was moving fast, and coordinated.

Atsu noticed it to, "Ravagers!" Atsu cursed himself under his breath, his fight must have created enough negative energy to provoke the nearby Grimm.

Now it was Lindiwe's turn to see the fast approaching black mass. They got close enough for their red and black flapping wings to be seen.

Uzamo opened the case, "Kids listen to your father, do exactly as he tells you!" she took a seat in the pilot seat and flipped through the manual.

"Mom what are you doing!" Lindiwe held the open box for her father to see.

Uzamo examined the book and flipped a few switches over head followed by a push of a few buttons, "Getting us the hell out of here!" she spoke with determined focus.

Atsu grabbed the box from Lindiwe and gave it to Banko, "Lindiwe, hold up my shirt." he ordered, and she did. Atsu grabbed some wipes and rubbing alcohol, here comes the bad part. "SSS! DVVVVVR!" the alcohol burned like hell seeping into the cut. He put the wipes over it and pressed down hard.

Uzamo gasped as the silhouette of a hundred Ravagers began blocking the moon and surrounding the ship. The bat like Grimm unleashed a hail storm of scratching on the hull of the ship, a few snapped at the windshield.

The wings of the ship unfolded.

Uzamo took a deep breath, looking through the mauel one more time before gripping the yolk, pulling up while slowly pushing power into the thrusts. The Ravagers continued scratching and squealing around the ship as it slowly began to rise, the cargo ramp and landing legs lifted back up. Thrusters burned more lively with a heated roar to lift the ship weight. Uzamo adjusted the side thrusters to be angled to give the ship some forward motion, but she accidentally pushed up on the yolk, making the ship dip down, "Oh no. SHIT!" she panicked, pulling back up.

"Uzamo! Keep it steady!" he winced at the sudden movement, Lindiwe and Banko had to regain their balance.

The Ravagers squeaked at each other to follow the ship.

Uzamo tried straightening the ship, but steered too hard to the left, sending them towards the canyon. Thank whatever celestial beings created this canyon because they would have gone up in a fiery grave. Instead they plummeted into the canyon while Uzamo screamed the whole time, she was lucky to get the ship straightened and was now gliding down the river of the canyon, Ravagers right on their tail.

Banko and Lindiwe tumbled to the floor, medical contents spilled everywhere, "Uzamo! What the hell is going on!" Atsu struggled to stay on the chair.

"I'm literally going by the book here! So help me I will STAB YOU MYSELF!" she hissed with venom.

Atsu was wide eyed by her vicious words, not even thinking to poke the pissed off mama bear.

People of Oasis began peering out their abode houses, some walking outside to see what the noise was.

"DAMNIT!" Uzamo screamed almost hitting a wall of houses while making another turn. Why did she have to be put in this position!

Lindiwe stood up with Atsu's chair as support, "Dad! Are you ok!?" she examined him in concern.

Atsu pushed himself up, but not without a stab of pain shooting into him, he swapped his blood soaked rag for a new one. His sweating increased with his breathing and the dark pigment in his face seemed to fade pale, "I… I need you…" his voice was raspy and tired, "I need a flare." his breath was shaky.

Lindiwe scrunched her brow, "A flare?" she questioned, but because of her father's state she didn't question him again and began scavenging the pile of medical supplies like she dropped her glasses. Banko had braced himself on the wall, looking half scared to death. A red stick rolled right past her, she new a flare when she saw one and went right for it.

Uzamo pulled up on the yolk, shooting the ship straight up into the stars causing Lindiwe and the scattered medicine to roll back into the wall hard, her aura protecting her. The manual up front fell back "NO!" Uzamo reached out and failed to catch it, smacking into Atsu's face. He grunted in frustration and ripped the book from his face.

The Ravagers began to scratch at the left wing like they were fighting over a toy, a large square piece of metal whined from being bent before flying off, taking a few of the bat Grimm with it.

A blue hologram appeared in front of Uzamo with a red dot on the left wing, "Oh NO!" she panicked, making the ship fly straight after getting to ground level.

Lindiwe and everything that had piled in the back fell forward when the ship had straightened.

Atsu held the book to Banko, "Banko, get this to your mother!" he ordered, Banko drunkenly reached out his little arm to grasp the book, trying to keep his balance. Uzamo spared a second to look over her shoulder to see Banko with the manual and reached behind her seat. Banko took a couple wobbly steps as Uzamo tried keeping the ship straight as more red lights appeared on the holographic display of the ship.

Those Ravagers were going ham on their ship!

Lindiwe finally got the flare and tossed it into her father's lap. Atsu grasped the flare tightly and popped it, the whole room was engulfed in a devilish red.

Uzamo rapidly flipped through the pages while having to fly a ship, sweat poured down her face. Her fingers traced along the words.

Atsu closed his eyes and took rapid deep breath, holding his shirt up to reveal the open wound to the flare. Now here comes the hellish part. He didn't think about it as he brought the flare onto the wound, the sizzling was sickening to hear, "DAAAAHHHH!" his cry echoed through the whole ship.

Uzamo grasped the thrust lever, "RRAAGGHH!" she screamed punching it hard. The eyes of the rear thrusters hummed to life, glowing an angry orange before screaming a burst of flames. Burning a few Grimm to a crisp and shooting the ship forward. The rest of the Ravagers pulled off, not wanting to die themselves.

Oasis grew smaller, and the ship burned as an orange star with the others.

Next stop, Vale.

* * *

What a morning it had been, going on noon soon, Erin got another thousand questions to add to the list. However questions would have to wait, Lindiwe was trapped, and kinda a bit dazed from all that electricity because of this Raven chick. Now it was up to him and his perso- his **TEAM,** to take her down, or try. Actually, there is no try, they were gonna lose, but they had to give Lindiwe time to recover.

After refusing Raven's attempt of bringing them to 'the dark side', Kore had actually stepped over to her. Erin had only felt his heart sink this low since the Grimm attack on his village.

Was Kore actually taking her side!?

His true answer came when Kore lunged forward with a primal growl. Claws he didn't know he had made their presence known.

Raven easily dodged it with a bow, then turned her back on the others. Her face was expressionless, like she knew his move.

Chestnut immediately charged in the fight with a wide grin on his face and not a second to lose.

Hugo hung his head with a slow shake, "Guess there's no apparent plan." he said like it was nothing new. The three of them running in sync, following Chestnut.

Raven heard footsteps running up behind her, and she noticed Kore about to attack again. In one fluid motion she spun and grabbed Chestnut's punch and neck collar, throwing him into Kore mid air, making them both sprawl to the floor. Then did a roundhouse kick across the faces of Erin, Hugo, and Feliz. All in one go.

Raven scoffed. What were kids even thinking trying to fight her? She had them out skilled and out heightened. Though she was a bit disappointed, thinking that under Lindiwe's wing they would at least be better trained in combat. Oh well, better have fun with it if anything.

Kore growled, "Damit Chestnut get off!" he pushed Chestnut off and both stood up. "Hey I'm just trying to help you out dude!" he argued back. Kore's ears shot up as if he had an idea, "Oh you wanna help aye." he spun Chestnut around towards Raven and shoved him hard, "GO GET HER!" he yelled. Chestnut struggled to keep his balance, pouncing towards Raven.

Raven smiled as she hooked under the boys arms and spun him with his forward momentum. Chestnuts neck breaking feet smacked Erin and Feliz while Hugo ducked.

Raven let Chestnut go tumbling onto the floor and just as planned could hear Hugo making a move to strike, thinking her guard was down because she was facing Kore, who also was going for a scratch. Raven backfliped and kicked Hugo in the back to make him accidentally run into Kore.

Their aura was holding, but it was getting beaten out of them quite fast as they each made uncoordinated, sloppy attempts of landing a hit on her.

Lindiwe began to feel her muscles recover, but trying to fight against the ice felt much more difficult than before. She thrashed weakly at the ice encasing her, every passing second she put more strength in it.

Hugo ran from the fight to the dojo room while Erin was currently taking a knee to the stomach by Raven.

The red and green duo ran in a straight line, Kore in the front with a two second distance between him and Chestnut. As they got closer, Raven picked Erin up and threw him at the duo.

Kore ducked on all fours while Chestnut stepped on his back and jumped off his head to dodge Erins flying body, "SURPRISE BITCH!" Chestnut cackled, targeting Ravens face, but she squatted, and when he was going just over her head she stood up and launched him farther, landing near Feliz.

Kore bared his teeth and lunged forward with a deep roar, Raven stepped back, dodging Kore's scratches. His claws sliced through the air like steel blades with every miss of his target, making him angrier.

"I like the fight in you…" Raven taunted dodging more rage filled scratches, Kore slashed hitting the ground and Raven stepped on his hand, making his grunt in pain, "But you're too careless." she said before kicking him in the face with her other foot. She turned to see a yellow haired boy with his hands raised like he was ready for a fight, but his face and posture were full of hesitation and worry, like he was a lost puppy looking for guildenss. She almost felt bad… almost. Raven turned around to see Hugo charging at her with a black and gold hilted katana with both hands pointed directly at her, eager to meet her acquaintance.

A smile crept onto Ravens face, "This ada be fun." she mumbled.

Hugo timed it all perfectly, he kept his strides the same length and his speed at a certain velocity, so when he got close enough he could push off his right leg- now! He pushed off and thrusted forward with high expectations of hitting her.

***CLAP!***

The point was merely touching her nose, the blade so thin looking down she could only see Hugo's surprised face.

Hugo thrusted forward again, but it hardly budged between Raven's hands.

Raven put on a disappointed frown, "Hmmm, here I thought you knew what you were doing.".

***TINK!***

She bent the blade till it snapped a screech of metal breaking.

Hugo's face lit up in surprise as he suddenly fell forward, then yelped when Raven hooked her right arm under his right armpit and threw him over her shoulder while grabbing the broken sword from his hand. Hugo landed over to join a recovering Chestnut and a clueless on what to do Feliz.

Raven held the broken blade by the metal between her fingers, spun around, and through it like a throwing knife so the hilt hit a recovered Erin in the forehead, "AH! Damnit!" he rubbed his forehead, using his aura to get rid of the pain.

Chestnut helped Hugo up, "You plan on participating Feliz?!" Hugo shouted.

"I don't know what to do!" he explained freaking out.

"Something besides standing there!"

"AHHHHH!" Feliz let out a strange sounding battle cry as he threw himself at the Raven who still had hier back turned. She turned around and threw a punch, but no one was there to receive it, instead she found Feliz belly down and arms wrapped around her feet, his eyes clenched shut as if praying that what he was doing was something useful.

Kore sat up rubbing his jaw with a closed pained eye. His eyes froze at the sight of Feliz laying on the floor around Raven's ankles. How the hell was Feliz the first to get a real advantage on her?!

Hugo and Chestnut stared dumbstruck at the action Feliz had pursued, "Well it's something…" he looked at Chestnut and they both shrugged, "GET HER NOW!" Hugo shouted, both charging at the bird lady.

Kore growled and started charging on all fours with razor sharp claws drawn.

Erin cracked his knuckles and ran into battle.

Raven looked around at the advancing boys, and when they were within two feet of her-

***BAM!***

The boys collided into each other instead of where Raven should have been. A few black feathers gracefully fell to the ground.

"Damnit, where'd she go?!" Erin rubbed his eye from colliding with… one of his teammates. It didn't matter who it was right now.

Their curiosity was soon answered when Raven fell from the air onto Feliz, making him grunt. She then split kicked Kore and Chestnut, landing in front of Feliz's face. Erin went for a punch which was easily caught, then same with his other fist, so that now his arms were crossing each other, "Oh shIIII-!" his commentary was cut off when Raven aggressively twirled him around while holding his arms up, hooked her foot around Erins ankle from between his legs, and tripped him with a pull and a push. She then did a cartwheel on Feliz, grabbing him in the process and throwing at Hugo.

Hugo went saucer eye'd before getting knocked onto his ass, Feliz lay dazed above him, "OOOF!" he fell, "Uuuuuuuuuuugh~" Hugo groaned getting up, Feliz followed, holding his head.

Lindiwe had never felt more weak or pathetic in her years of being a huntress. Leader of one of the top teams in Beacon right next to STRQ during her years of being a student, and she was losing to ice. ICE! How much dust does she use in that sword! The amount of electricity she used in her sword didn't feel like a shock, more so several strikes of lightning hitting her at once!

Lindiwe's head perked up. Perhaps there was another way to help! She looked at the ongoing fight, the poor boys really getting their asses handed to them. She'd make sure they'd be doing the ass kicking once this was over, that was a promise. If they decided to stay.

Lindiwe looked at Kore who just got split kicked in the face. She closed her eyes, scraping whatever aura she had left from the bottom of the barrel, just enough to make the connection.

Kore was about to stand and fight once more, this lady was nothing like fighting Berit and his friends. He suddenly felt his head go fuzzy, a ringing sound sang across the room, or was it just him hearing that? His ears twitched rapidly,"Wha-what the hell!?" he held his head. _"Don't fight me Kore, let me help." _a feminine voice gently spoke in his head. "Lindiwe?" Kore's voice was full of confusion, but before he could ask anything else his red eyes rimmed a bright orange.

Erin would be lying if he said he wasn't getting pissed, his aura seemed to be holding up alright, it'd definitely need more training. I guess a strong aura doesn't come from excessive workouts, maybe pushing it to the limit in a fight makes it stronger, with time of course.

Erin saw Chestnut circling Raven, whose attention he currently had, giving Erin an opportunity. He ran up to Raven, going for a knee. It went just as well as expected, Raven side stepped and palm punched Erin's back, making his posture drop and his head ram into Hugo's crotch.

Raven drop kicked over them, kicking Feliz to the ground, then back kicked Hugo in the rear to send him falling on top of Erin, but not before Chestnut used them as a step stool to get some air, "SECOND SURPRISE ATTACK BITCH!".

Raven caught him by the neck and threw him to the side to back step narrowly avoiding the whistling feline claws of Kore. Upon missing Kore cartwheeled and kicked Raven across the face in one swift move, it even took Raven by surprise. "What the!" she looked at Kore, his stance seemed more appropriate for fighting.

Kore did a spin kick in the air to make up the height difference. Raven blocked it, her arms making an 'X' shape.

Kore immediately did a leg sweep once landing, but only got one leg, making Raven stumble back to keep her balance. It was enough however for Kore to run up to her for another attack. Raven sent a quick punch, but not quick enough since Kore side stepped and pushed off into a backflip, delivering a kick with the toes of his boot.

Ravens eyes gleamed with anger, shooting the counter spike on her elbow across his face, then a chop to the back of his knee to make buckle. As he fell to his knee he was met by another knee to the jaw.

Erin, Hugo, and Chestnut were resting on the side lines, watching with dinner plate eyes and jaws on the floor. "When the hell did Kore learn to fight like that?" Erin composed himself to ask. "I… don't have an explanation." Hugo stated. Chestnut voiced his opinion, "It's like it's not even him fighting. You know?". Hugo usually ignored Chestnut's comments, but it got him thinking.

Kore got some distance to make a quick recovery with aura before moving forward and jumping to initiate a combo.

Raven caught the punch and hooked Kore under his leg and onto her shoulders into a fireman carry. Raven wasted no time in falling back for Kore's body to take the hard fall onto the metal floor.

Erin, Chestnut, and Hugo winced. "We should help now." Erin said in a cringed tone.

"Wait where's Feliz!" Chestnut realized the absence of the blonde.

While efforts to combat Raven continued, Feliz ran over to Lindiwe who made little progress on escaping the ices frosty grip. Lindiwe had her eyes closed, like she was meditating, her aura glowed dimly around her frame. Feliz didn't know what to think of it, was she sleeping? Meditation?! Should he try to wake her?! All these thoughts laid the foundation for stress.

Feliz Looked like he was about to have a mental breakdown, "Oh man, uuuuuuugh, come on think. Think!" he tugged at his hair looking around for a solution to make itself known. His eyes landed on the sickle-staff that was Lindiwe's weapon, alone on the floor. He picked it up, adjusting his grip to adapt to the weight, "I hope I don't hit anything important." he nervously stated.

Kore groaned as Raven stood off him, but his trachea was soon met with a high heel cutting off its air flow. Kore went wide eyed at the sudden inability to breath, his red eyed gaze met Ravens more deadly gaze. Kore began attempting to lift the foot from his jugular, getting a sliver of oxygen felt like cold water after a walk across Vacuo.

Raven was surprised at the strength of this one, having to put in some aura into her leg to return the pressure on his airway.

"HEY!"

Raven turned to see three multi-colored boys advancing on her. She gripped the hilt of her sword, the dial on the sheath spinning to yellow. She unsheathed her sword with unseen speed which sent an arc of electrical energy striking each of them. They dropped like flies, their muscles tensing up making them seem as how a beetle does when it's dying. Hugo and Chestnut's aura broke, but Erin somehow managed to keep his up, but he could feel how little fuel was left in the tank.

Kore continued to try lifting the crushing heel from his throat even with aura, it was like trying to lift a boulder, his vision began to darken from his eyelids becoming greater in weight.

Lindiwe flinched in her concentration, trying to maintain connection.

Raven looked back down at Kore her blade ready to cut his struggling to an end. Until she noticed an odd orange glow around his irises. Wait… the sudden improvement in fighting, the orange glow around his eyes! She looked up with wide eyes at Lindiwe, noticing her aura hugging around her and her state seemed to be trying to concentrate on something… HER SEMBLANCE! Then you had the yellow haired boy trying to chisel her out with Lindiwe's weapon. That wasn't going to happen.

Raven, without looking, kicked Kore across the head, HARD! And walked toward the blonde and trapped huntress.

Lindiwe's eyes shot open like she had had a nightmare.

Kore's aura was working to protect him from anything fatal, but that didn't mean it still didn't hurt, at least he could breath now. His breaths magneted hug gust of air to his mouth, dazed from lack of oxygen and the kick, "Aahhhhh! What the hell was that. Why did- how did I do that?!" he sat up looking at his hands, then over to his fallen friends. "Ahhh dammit. Tell me ya'll aren't dead." he kneeled next to them. Kore reached his hand to Chestnut's shoulder and got shocked, "AH! Damnit!" he held his hand and gave a mildly rough kick to Chestnut's back.

"Ayyyee!" Chestnut rolled over to his belly, holding the newly sore spot on his back.

"Well if your punkass is fine, I'm sure they're good to." he looked at Erin and Hugo,both giving a thumbs up, signifying they heard him.

Feliz flinched back when Lindiwe suddenly jerked her head up and gasped. "Feliz! What are you doing!?" she questioned in fear.

Feliz tightened his grip on her weapon, his expression turning into a nervous sweat, "I-I'm trying to get you out, but this ice is thick!" Feliz explained.

Lindiwe looked to the source of tapping heels to see Raven striding towards them, the dial on her sheath spinning red.

Lindiwe grunted fighting against the ices loosening grip, "Feliz run NOW!" she howled for him to move.

Feliz turned to see Raven taking a hold of her sword from its sheath and sending a wave of fire that cracked in the air. The air grew warmer in just seconds, Feliz could have averted his body out of the way, but then Lindiwe would get hit. Feliz ran in front of Lindiwe, held the weapon out, and braced.

***BOOM!***

Feliz took the full blazing force of the heat wave, like getting punched by a fist of flames and slammed into the glass wall next to Lindiwe as his aura shattered. Yellow leather armor scorched black across his chest, a few burn spots on his jawline, and hands.

The heat had weakened the ice, Lindiwe could feel it, and after watching Feliz take a hit for her. She began thrashing to escape from the ice, a few cracks starting to sprout.

Kore seeing Feliz get heat blasted by the woman made him worry for a second before snapping a lock that opened the gates to a new level of rage. To say his blood was boiling was an understatement, his heart was pumping pure magma through his veins. Any trace of fatigue or dizziness burned away.

"**RRRAAAGGGHHH!" **he gave a genuine roar of a tiger, his ears shot up and claws drawn, ready to take blood if needed. And after what she just did to his friend… it was needed.

"Kore wait!" Chestnut was too slow to stop him. Erin and Hugo had already begun their ascension to their feet.

Raven turned to the sound of an animal to see the red haired fanus on all fours running at her with a blood lust glare. She took a stance with her sword and waited for the careless fool to get closer.

Lindiwe finally broke an arm free, then a leg, the rest of her limbs soon followed. She saw Kore charging at Raven who had her sword ready. In a heartbeat she equipped her weapon from the floor and fired a round, hitting the back of Raven's knee where there was no armor.

"GAAHH!" she yelped as her knee collapsed on itself, her aura shielding from the bullet. Her guard was put down in time for Kore to fire a cannon ball of a punch to her gut. Claws wouldn't do much if her aura was still standing, so brute force it was.

Raven had to admit that punch took more aura than she expected, and he hit in a good spot at that. Her stomach felt like throwing up her kidneys, but years of being a huntress made her durable enough to take a hit and keep rolling.

Raven curled her hands in a ball above her head and brought it down on Kore's elbow joint. Causing him to hitch forward, only to be sent back by an aura induced head butt. Raven extended her leg in the air and dropped a scissor kick atop his head. Then backflip kicked him into the air, Kore's aura flared red before breaking, and unfortunate timing because as Kore was descending towards the ground head first, Raven sent a hard kick to his back.

Kore was sent rolling, his ears and tail went limp, signifying he was knocked out.

Raven breathed in large breaths, a hand on her stomach, and the other around her sword. Her rest was cut short when Lindiwe swung in her weapon at Ravens face which she dodged by a hair.

Their clashing rained on in a light show of sparks and dust use while the group of colored boys recovered.

Feliz crawled his way to Kore, and rolled him over with a grunt, "Kore…" Feliz shook him, but got no response in return, "Kore please wake up! Kore!" Feliz cried out desperately to his friend.

Erin, Hugo, and Chestnut evaded the fight to reach Feliz and their fallen friend, they were all exhausted and worn down.

Lindiwe had been pushed forward by a kick in the back, Raven bringing her sword down to slash her, but Lindiwe maneuvered her weapon horizontally over her head to catch the blade. Lindiwe turned her weapon and body with enough speed to lower her stance and use Fishhook Barrel to sweep Raven's legs.

Raven instantly twirled her legs in the air in a spiral kicking fury, as if she were warding off a swarm of rapier wasps. Landing a successful kick to Lindiwe's mid-section and scooped up her weapon while whipping back on her feet, into her stance.

Raven held her long katana, gleaming red with both hands and charged at Lindiwe.

Lindiwe charged to.

Closing the distance quicker by the second until-

***CHIIIIIIIIINNNNNNG!***

Their steel met with ferocity, sparks flew from the angry blades. The eyes of their wielders bore into each other.

Lindiwe used the curve of her blade to hook Raven's, then twist and fling Ravens katana from her grasp.

Raven was shocked at how easily she lost her weapon, but before Raven could move to retrieve it, a gun barrel was placed on her chest.

***BANG!***

***BANG!***

***BANG!***

***BANG!***

***BANG!***

***BANG!***

Shot after shot pushed Raven back, leaving no time for her to recover. Her aura working to deflect each round attempting to push in her chest. Raven staggered back with each bee stinging pain of the bullets hitting her aura protected sternum.

When Lindiwe's weapon clicked empty she jabbed the butt of her weapon into the ground and used it to support a two footed kick to send her back. Raven hadn't fallen yet, still managing to stand even after that combo, but Lindiwe wasn't done yet. She flung the sickle of Fishhook Barrel to wrap around Raven, pinning her arms to her sides and recoiling the wire to force Raven toward Lindiwe while running towards Raven.

Delivering the final blow, Lindiwe unraveled Raven, making her spin. Lindiwe used her the sickle to hook around her head, stopping her from spinning. Lindiwe pulled her and spun behind her so they were back to back, the shaft of Fishhook Barrel choking Raven, and it got worse when Lindiwe pulled up and over her shoulder.

The tightness on Ravens airway was soon replaced by her head being slung over and slammed into the metal ground, a couple feet away from Lindiwe. Being able to get air in her lungs again, she growled and slammed her fist on the floor before her form suddenly changed into a smaller more feathery creature.

The boys except Kore analysed in awe as the blink of an eye event transpired, Kore groaning as his eyes splintered open.

"KORE! You ok?" Erin helped him sit up.

Kore rubbed his head and ears, "My back is killing me." he winced putting his other hand on his lower back.

Hugo began to push on his chest, "Lay and rest then, trust me." he suggested.

Kore wanted to protest, but he trusted his friend, if things were going bad, then he'd intervene. Plus he really didn't want to move.

Raven being a… Raven. Flew to her weapon and grabbed it by the hilt, flying to the middle of the training room to get some distance before transforming back, a few feathers swayed in the air behind her. She gulped in mouths full of air and rubbed her neck while continuing to point her sword at her old friend now rival. Good ol' Lindiwe still had it, she fought with more focus, more smartly. Using her opponent's movements and attacks against them was always her best way of combat. Lindiwe was way more sloppy when she fought out of rage and revenge at the beginning of their fight. Even if Lindiwe didn't have a weapon she was mastered in wrestling and some hand to hand combat.

Erin, Hugo, and Chestnut weakly readied themselves for a fight next to Lindiwe. Looking at his scroll, Erin was barely hanging by a thread with his aura. Chestnut and Hugo were still in the process of regeneration, but since they didn't have scrolls yet they couldn't check on their own.

Kore refusing to be left out of the fight started to force himself to stand, Feliz not wanting to anger him, helped him. The red and yellow pair slowly joined the line on Lindiwe's left side, Kore using Feliz for support to stand and walk till he got his bearings better. Feliz, despite being tired, kept Kore up which was taking more effort, but he didn't want to let his friend down.

Raven scanned over them all, evaluating her options, she could take on the boys easily, but they would be a distraction with Lindiwe fighting as well. Her aura was beginning to feel a bit strained as well. Chances of fighting and winning seemed slim, but there was also another option. "You know *cough*... that day… when you led us to the outskirts of the **GRIMM LANDS**…" Raven could see Lindiwe's expression mix with pain, anger, and grief, "I never took pleasure in killing Summer, she just possessed the wroooong trait." she let those words hang.

Hugo narrowed his eyes to purple daggers, "What trait?" he asked bitterly.

Lindiwe wanted to tell him to shut up, but that would be cruel and suspicious.

Raven looked at him specifically, "Silver eyes..." she stated.

The colored boys seemed to perk up at that, remembering the legends Erin had read about in 's library.

Raven looked down, "So I set the trap with my tribe a few days prior to the mission, because if I didn't… they would be killed." her voice filled with displeasure.

Lindiwe stomped forward, "What does your brother think of this!?" she demanded an answer.

Raven narrowed her eyelids, "Qrow doesn't serve the tribe any longer, he hasn't in a long time, you know this. Instead, he would rather serve that arrogant old man Oz! Sitting up in his tower playing chess out of the people he looks down upon! Qrow just abandoned the tribe, to become a **PAWN**!" she screamed, but pinched the bridge of her nose to simmer down. It was time she let out another truth, "When I left Tai, it wasn't because I hated him or was unhappy with my life with him…" Raven softened her gaze at Lindiwe, "But because… I had a daughter with him.".

Lindiwe went slacked jawed, her face showed she was baffled, "T-that… No! I was never told." she shook her head in denial.

Raven scoffed with a role of her eyes, "Because you were so obsessed with your mission that no one wanted to distract you from your goal. Did you ever notice the glares that Summer gave me, or that me and her didn't talk at all. For years she hated me for abandoning Tai and Yang, and before our mission they had a daughter of their own, Ruby." she continued to explain.

Lindiwe really thought about it, she wanted to deny it, call it another lie, but the more she remembered the more it made sense. When she got Chad, Summer, and Raven together, things between Raven and Summer had been rather murky. Summer was excited and determined to help Lindiwe with her mission, well not at first, but she just one day came asking if she could still embark on the mission with them. Things got heavy however, when Raven's presence entered the atmosphere. "Wh…" she was in disbelief, "Why would you abandon your own daughter?".

Raven gave a serious look, "To protect her." she stated firmly, "And if you want to protect them…" she gestured to the boys, "Let. Them. Go." was the last thing she said before popping a smoke at her feet, clouding her body. Raven then sheather her sword, the dial turning green, Raven slashed at the ground, the wind dust pushing the smoke toward Lindiwe and the boys.

The last remnant of Raven was the sound of a closing portal and a couple scattered feathers.

Once the smoke cleared everyone except Lindiwe was on the floor in full exhaustion. Erin and his team have never been in a fight that intense before. Itmade them feel severely weak at how little damage they did, except for Kore of course, but that was Lindiwe using her semblance. Besides the fight, there were a lot of thoughts and emotions twisting with Erins head and feelings, this huntsmen gig seemed more serious than just defending villages from Grimm. Who is **HER**? What's a **MAIDEN**? Who was **SUMMER**? Most importantly… what is the **TRUTH?**

Lindiwe decided it was safe to let her guard down and relaxed, she looked over to see where Raven had dropped her mask.

Gone.

She sighed, nothing was going to plan, first Chad was coming to test Erin god knows when, and now Raven comes out of the blue and spills half the beans to-!

"Lindiwe."

Lindiwe got goosebumps when she felt ten eyes on her, she continued to look away from them.

"Lindiwe…" Erin stepped closer, "We need to talk."

* * *

"GET UP!"

A sweat soaked Samantha was pushed back down.

"I said GET UP!" a female voice screamed at her, it was her trainer. Well the boot camp trainer, to be more specific.

Samantha's body felt disgusting, like a hot bag of trash. The air lingered with body heat of other people training. They were playing king of the hill on three different matts with three different groups. Samantha had won eleven fights in a row as queen of the hill, considering she was the only female that wasn't her trainer.

She felt herself roll over by a kick from a boot, and her eyes caught her trainers face. Stone cold, angry brown eyes, and had a buzz cut on the sides with a few locks of black hair atop her head. All she wanted to do was lay there, but her chest signaled pain when a boot started crushing it, it felt like she was trying to do dumbbells with an anvil. She felt more awake due to her eyes popping open, actually it was more so because she couldn't get a good breath of air. Her trainer's lemon sour look bent down to her face.

"I said, get.." she reared her hand back, "UP!".

***SMACK!"**

"DAGH! *gasp* *gasp*." Samantha sat up holding her stinging cheek to find her hair swaying in front of her face. She sighed and deactivated her semblance. It was a habit she had, sometimes she would use her semblance during her sleep, like sleep walking, but with your semblance. That made for some more interesting stories to tell if the time ever arises. She first needed to figure out where she was, it felt like morning.

Samantha looked around to find herself in a forest surrounded by trees, rocks, shrubs, nothing special really.

Wait!?

How did she get here!? Samantha stood up a bit to quickly and leaned on a tree

She was eating breakfast when Woods passed out, followed by everyone else-!

Her thoughts were cut off when she saw a black bulky bag with straps and zippers lining all across it. A canteen was holstered in the side pouch, and it seemed like every other pouch had something of value.

She walked up to it and opened the main pouch, her eyes dawned on what seemed like red and yellow armor of some kind. It took a minute to get it out, but once she did she identified it as lightweight carbon nanotube armor with small amounts of ballistic padding on the chest, arms, shoulders, and legs while leaving spots for maneuvering. However this wasn't just any armor, it was HER ARMOR!

Samantha's face lit up like a sunrise with realization as she dug further into the bag, "**EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEK!**" she squealed like she was five years old and getting her first puppy. She pulled out two of eight of her signature gold, white quartz Octuplet pistols and looked at them with star sparkling eyes, giving them a kiss, "*smooch* *smooch* OH MY GOOOOOOOOD! I haven't seen these since I started basic training!" joy was an understatement of how she was feeling.

It didn't take long for her to slip into the armor, its yellow ballistic padding stood out from the red accents that traveled around her frame. Latching on eight pistol holsters, two around her hip, two on each shoulder with the grip pointing downward, two on her shoulder blades, and two resting above her breasts at an angle. Each pistol was positioned for easy equipping in the case she needed a quick draw, but there were a few more secrets to these pistols than meets the eye.

The last thing found in the main pouch was an envelope with no name or anything, she opened it. Her eye's trailed along the letters, "If you're reading this it means you're awake and have found your pack with your personal weapons and armor. I'm sure you have questions, so this letter should sum up a few of them. Your mission is to survive a full week in these woods, do not by any means go past the river or cliffs. We have soldiers near the village wall to redirect you if you get too close…"

* * *

Rhino rested Blitzkrieg on his shoulder while scanning over the letter, "While you have been provided with supplies in your pack, you are very limited, part of the mission is to use natural resources to keep yourself alive and well. Grimm encounters are highly likely to occur, if you find yourself in a dire situation there are eyes on constant patrol, observing the area you are in, and will save your sorry ass if needed. However being rescued will result in immediate termination from the group." he read.

Rhino puffed his cheeks like he was holding in a laugh until he couldn't hold it, "PAHAHAHAHAAAAA! Me being rescued!" he put on a metal helmet that covered his face and armored his horn to a deadly metal point. "Imma show every punkass Grimm not to screw with me, or Bergseite." he snorted angrily before he read the last bit of the letter.

* * *

Woods tapped Trifold against a rock as he read his letter, "You are not prohibited from teaming up with any other members of this course you run into, the goal is to survive a full week together, or by yourself. Good luck, your Lieutenant. P.S. knocking you guys out was just more fun." the letter ended.

Woods slung the pack over his shoulder, "A week huh?" he scanned deep into the woods, his hearing picking up the chiming of birds and a few grasshoppers zipping through the air, "I've got a few options in mind." he set his sights on a spot in the forest and followed where the wind took him.

* * *

Leo began coming through, the sunlight tickling his eyes and the grass scratching at his bare skin. He held his hand in front of his shrinking pupils as he sat up, his joints gave a satisfying pop with his stretches and back twisting. He looked around, "Ok… what the hell happened." he looked around the forest, thick with trees. A few boulders stood out from the green environment.

It didn't take long to find the pack, opening its contents for him and the sun to see his bladed recurve bow collapsed with a few of his armor pieces at the bottom. "Score…" he took out the weapon and uncollapsed it, the bow whipped it's sharp limbs out to its full length, "Alright boy ready for some act-'' he then notices the anonymously blank letter.

He read it and couldn't help but give a hearty filled laugh, "Oohhhhoho shit lieutenant! This is what I'm talking about, now this is we should be training!" he craved the challenge, "Not sure if I really need much help though, this is a big forest even with the limitations we have, shouldn't be too hard finding a cave." he'd been around this forest on past patrols.

He still had his black chestplate on, and thankfully he was laid out in the sun. Leo pressed his fingers on a small button on the armors sternum between the pecs, holding it for five seconds until the armor beeped twice before the sound of hydraulics shifting hummed. The armor let out a one second hiss of air before removing the armor from his chest. Three thin bars of metal stuck out from the armor, two on the pecs and one on the belly button area, as were three holes on Leo's body for those bars. Dark fleshy scars lined his body where it looked like surgery had been conducted.

Leo held the armor to see the inside of it, sensor modules, green lights, and some other technological confusing stuff were built into it with a few Atlas logos. The device was charged, his vitals looked good, and all the lights were green, but Leo sighed, "Screw Atlas." he said reattaching the mechanism to himself.

He put on his braces, shin guards, elbow and knee pads and his pack, draping it over his shoulder before walking into the green thickets.

* * *

The samurai had awoken very defensively, but calmed when there was no present danger, only the question of what had happened. Answers were found in the letter that was confined in a pack along with two black attachable black wrist blades with eight inch steel blades.

The samurai pulled out a sling showcasing throwing knives and shurikens. The sling nested different colored throwables, divided by colors of blue, red and yellow.

The samurai was pissed for falling so easily to their lieutenant's trickery. Years of training to be heightened in the five senses, only to be taken out by FOOD! Such a falter in being vigilant would have cost a painful punishment at home.

Home.

The samurai shook its head gearing up, now if the letter was correct, they were being watched by 'eyes', that could mean small drones or scouts. Too many trees for drones though, had to be scouts. The lay out of the land was pretty simple, being almost a year out of basic training (Same with the others accept Samantha) was enough time to venture... and get attacked by Grimm.

What a night that was. The screaming souls still rung through the helmet sometimes.

The samurai phased its body, becoming see through and almost invisible. Running through the forest, literally, running THROUGH the forest. Like a spirit of the forest, running through trees, rocks, and grass until it seemed safe to reappear.

The samurai went for the canteen for a refreshing sensation, but it felt too light to be full. Opening the canteen with a sigh to see it was indeed dry empty. Luckily a stream called out not too far, as if saying 'come to me'.

The samurai filled the canteen to the rim. Taking a long look around the forest before proceeding to take off the helmet and enjoying a few blissful gulps. The samurai kneeled and looked into the stream.

At **HER **reflection.

Her dark oak wood skin made her bright pale blue eyes stand out, her head was bald, but with a few prickles of hair peering out. Her lips were a hazel brown color, her head was shaved to the scalp with a few frizzled hairs, but her most noticeable feature was the pink fleshy skin on her cheek that formed some kind of flower symbol. It was a brand, it was supposed to represent a mark of honor to one's family in Mistrials culture, but to her now, it was a reminding burden that to this day still stung that spot on her cheek.

She continued to stare at her reflection, a tear dropping from her watery eye and rippling the water, "我的名字是, Ming Yue." she whispered to herself in Mistralian. Sometimes she had to see her reflection and say her name, just so that she didn't forget who the person under that helmet was.

***Snap!***

A heartbeat later Ming had secured the helmet on her head and whipped around, two shurikens between her fingers.

She was currently having a staring contest with a deer, both were like statues. The deer's glassy black eyes stared into her helmets glassy black lenses. The deer looked with wide eyed curiosity, like it was trying to ask her a question, or read her mind. The deer's nose twitched before resuming its everyday grazing.

Ming lowered her arm and sighed, always so paranoid and self-conscious about people seeing her face because then that would lead to questions, and she was scared of actually trusting someone enough again to tell them. She then raised her head in realization, looking back at the deer.

She still needed food.

* * *

This day had been going horribly and it was only noon.

For Lindiwe the air was heavy, the seemingly growing weight on her chest made it feel like her lungs worked double time to replenish oxygen.

"Lindiwe…"

Her body tensed up, a shiver crawled up her vertebrae.

"We need to talk." Erin stated

Kore being back on the ground propped himself up with his elbow, "Have you really been keeping secrets from us?" he growled.

Hugo spoke up, "No more half truths or lies. It's time for an explanation." he sounded just as pissed.

Kore waved off Feliz who was keeping him company to stand up, "And don't- ahh!" he held his back, "And don't even think about trying to play the innocent victim!" his ears spiked up as his eyes narrowed on Lindiwe like they were about to shoot missiles.

Hearing them talk that way to her made Lindiwe feel just like Ozpin. She had a much similar reaction when she was told the truth, telling herself she would be nothing like him, yet here she was. Hearing the truth was scary, keeping it was scarier.

Lindiwe turned hastily around to look at them with a look on her face like when you've been caught with your hand in the cookie jar, "O-o-of course." her throat was tight to make her voice sound like a whisper.

Everyone had gathered in the living room area on the couches, Kore sitting with an ice pack on his back.

"So… what do you want to know first?" she sounded so defeated, like she lost a piece of her soul. The moment those words left her mouth everyone shouted a question. Lindiwe just raised an eyebrow and stared in confusion.

"One at a time you fools! Let's start off with who that woman was." Hugo stated.

The sadness in Lindiwe's eyes deepend, she knew it was coming, "*sigh*... Her name is Raven Branwen. We went way back to Beacon, she was on team STRQ which consisted of Tiayang Xiao Long, Summer Rose, And Raven's brother Qrow Branwen. Our teams were friends during our time at Beacon, we trusted each other like family." she looked down at her hands.

Kore wasn't having any of that sad crap though, "So then what the hell happened? And who did she kill that pissed you off so much exactly?" he blasted his questions wanting answers.

Lindiwe held back an annoyed grunt, "The headmaster of Beacon, Ozpin, had his eye on both of our teams for excellence in every category of Beacons subjects. We did so well in fact, that he invited me and Raven up to his office for a private chat, apparently we were the best on our teams, but our curiosity was still growing with each second we went up that elevator-".

"Wait…" Feliz interrupted, "So the headmaster of Beacon told you these secrets?" he tilted his head.

Lindiwe just gave a sad nod.

"Bu… but that's where we dreamed of going as huntsmen right? What now." he looked around at the group, waiting for their answer.

Hugo was the first to speak, "A later time on that Feli…" he looked back at Lindiwe, "Please, continue.".

Lindiwe took a deep breath, "He told us about the maidens, the secret war between those hunting them for power, and those protecting them. He had given us an offer to join his inner circle to combat these foes, and gave us time to think on it while asking to keep it a secret from our teams." she played the memory in her head like a movie, being in that office of gears and clockwork.

"Did you?" Erin asked.

Lindiwe didn't reply right away, but when she did, she shook her head, "And it was the worst mistake I had made as a leader. It tore our team in half, two dropping Beacon early, and Chad staying with me. It didn't seem any better for Raven, at the time she had only told her brother as I knew of, and they were arguing. This was on our last year at Beacon as well, on graduation day I had a talk with Qrow at a bar, and he had a bit of a disturbing secret of his own. Apparently he and his sister were never sent to Beacon to learn how to become huntsmen… but how to kill them." she explained, making the boys drop their jaws in shock.

"What a twist." again with Chestnuts bad timing.

Hugo ignored them, "What… What do you mean? Why would he just tell you that?" his questions piled up.

"Because once Qrow learned the truth he had a change of heart I guess, and not only that, but he had joined Ozpin. And probably still is to this day. Raven didn't take it lightly, they were both associated with a bandit tribe Qrow had told me, and that Raven had accused him as a traitor." her expression shifted from sadness to a stressful pain, like she was having a migraine. "I wanted to move away from Vale to get away from Ozpin, everything! The world I knew, the friends I had! I didn't know who to trust!" she rubbed her temples, "Chad hadn't given up on me, we moved to your village Erin, because not only was it far from Vale, but it was close to this place." she waved her hand around the room.

She took a minute to cool off, "I hadn't heard anything of my old teammates, and the last thing I knew of Tai and Summer is that they were getting married in patch, where soon I discovered they had a daughter named Ruby…" her expression flickered from a half smile to a confused frown, "And I just found out that Raven had a daughter with him to, and that her name is Yang I guess. I just don't understand why though." she cupped her chin, but the train of thought was interrupted by another question.

Feliz spoke softly, "Real quick, ummm… what's a maiden?" he tilted his head in curiosity.

All eyes reverted back to Lindiwe looking at the coffee table in absolute thought.

A silence had impregnated the air before she finally lifted her head, "What's your favorite fairy tail?".


	9. Chapter 9

Personal Split

A RWBY fanfic story

By Donovan Ray Castillo

Chapter 9

Beacon academy was a campus that basked in glory atop a cliff that overlooked Vale city, with waterfalls that lined the rocky ledge. It looked more like a modern day castle with a massive tower protruding from the campus that put the other towers to shame, the campuses purpose being to train the next generation of monster slaying huntsmen.

The headmaster was currently in his office atop of the highest tower in Beacon, sitting in front of his glass and gear themed desk on a call. The whole office was a very large glass room that allowed eyes to view the turning and shifting of gears within the towers components, the walls to the left and right, the floor, and the ceiling shared this theme of clockwork.

Headmaster Professor Ozpin sat in his chair, a mug of steaming hot coffee cooled on his desk with his signature cane leaning against his desk.

In front of him was a blue holographic computer screen with a picture of a bold looking man in an Atlas military uniform with broad shoulders and a defining face that spelled order. His hair was black and combed back with a little grey on the sides, on his forehead was a sliver of metal for whatever reason.

Above the picture read 'James (General) Ironwood: Call in progress'.

"I assure you James that is not needed, the village of Bergseite has received my help, as well as the Council of Vale. There is no need for the Atlesian Council to get involved with troops. We have our own branches of military after all." Ozpin explained with a smile at the generals offering.

The general sighed, _"I know Oz, but part of the treaty Atlas signed after the war was that it would lend military support to any kingdom in need."_ he explained his reasoning.

Ozpin gave a low chuckle before sipping his mug, "Despite Atlas being the most advanced of the kingdoms we are not defenseless James. For a general I would think underestimating one's opponent is a faulty move." he sipped his mug again.

_"That's not what I'm saying. We just can't let the Grimm over run settlements and not look out for each other."_ he began getting serious.

Ozpin knew it was time to de escalate the situation, "And that is a very noble gesture of you general. If Vale has any problems with keeping the peace… we will contact you." his tone was soft and reassuring.

The general seemed pleased, _"Alright then, that's all I really wanted to discuss then. Good day to you Oz."_ the general said his parting words.

"James…" Ozpin's tone was a bit more serious, but kept its relaxed state.

_"What is it?"_ the general replied with curiosity.

Ozpin straightened his posture, "How are the subjects?".

The general sighed, _"Ozpin, we've been through this, it's been years." _he reminded his friend.

"I'm aware Jame's, but I just want a frequent update. We can't risk this secret being exposed to the public." Ozpin stated.

_"Don't you think I would notify you if something like that happened?"_ Ironwood pointed out.

Ozpin composed himself to not lose his patience, "I do trust you James, but the fact of the matter is that there still my responsibility." he explained.

_"It's all of our responsibility."_

"I knew the risk telling Lindiwe and Raven the truth, Lindiwe wanted to take her chances with her team, and now those two who strayed had to be wiped of their memory." his tone started to rise, but he caught himself and settled down, "In the end it's just another burden I must carry, so I hope it's not too much to ask how they are doing." he placed his mug a bit harder than intended. Though he still got the message to the general.

_"*sigh* Give me a second. What's Qrow up to now.?" _the general asked, going through his documents.

Ozpin adjusted his spectacles, "In Mistral helping Leo in tracking the Spring Maiden." he answered.

_"Still no luck huh?"_ the general asked, though already knowing the answer.

Ozpin let out a disappointed sigh through his nose, "It's worrying on what would happen if Salem gets a hold of her." his face showed sadness, even if no one could see it.

"_We can't start thinking like that now Oz. Lets just hope that Leo and Qrow find something." _Ironwood reassured Ozpin, but Oz couldn't help but think of what was at stake if Salem had a maiden on her side.

"_Aaand there." _Ironwood announced.

Ozpin's holoscreen got an message, he scooched forward and narrowed his eyes before opening it. Two individuals of different backgrounds were presented on the screen. Vine Zeki was a male who looked very much like he was raised in Mistral. He's very tall with deathly pale skin and short shaved grey hair, he has several tattoos along the center of his forehead and chin. He wears an Atlesian Specialist uniform that consists of a white coat with blue accents, a red sash, a large blue belt, and black sleeveless gloves that go up to his brachium. He wears beaded necklaces around his neck and right arm.

The second was Harriet Bree, a young woman with platinum blonde and brown hair shaved on the sides and violet eyes. Her uniform was also Atlas and of the same color. She wears a very short-sleeved Atlesian Specialist uniform that consists of a sleeveless white vest, a rolled-up blue shirt, a red tie and white shorts. There are also dark blue strips connecting from the sides of the vest down to the silver greaves on her knees, exposing the inner part of the thighs and the back of her calves. She also wears blue fingerless gloves and silver shoes.

"_Harriet Bree and Vine Zeki have shown no signs of awareness to their past at Beacon, they seem to believe their background story without question. To this day their training to be apart of Atlas's Ace Operatives." _the general went on to explain, "_Happy now?"_.

Ozpin examined their files for a while before answering, "Yes James… thank you." he returned to his emotionless calm tone.

"_You think Lindiwe or Chad told anyone else after what happened to Summer?" _the general asked, knowing full well what he was getting into.

"Have a good day, Jame's." he hung up.

Ozpin grabbed his mug, equipped his cane, and walked up to the large window behind him that overlooked the whole front of the school and docking bay. Students were like ants walking in and out of the main building, bullheads flew to and from the school bringing more students. His gaze then looked toward the bright smiling sun.

***Ding!***

The elevator dinged before opening to reveal a tall woman who appears to be middle-aged that has very light-blonde hair tied back in a bun with a curl hanging down the right side of her face. Her eyes are bright green and she wears thin ovular glasses that could make a tough meat head of a man turn stone cold. She has dangling teal earrings that match the hanging pendant on her collar. In one hand she has a riding crop with a scroll tablet in the other

Ozpin turned with a small smile forming on his face, "Glynda." he sipped his mug while walking to his desk and turning it off to hide the picture of the two past students, "Anything interesting to report.".

Glynda's heels tapped on the glass with her steps, "*sigh* Nothing from the ordinary, just teenagers being teenagers." she stopped in front of his desk, "Any luck from Qrow?".

Ozpin dropped his small smile and shook his head, "None from Leo either." his disappointment still raw in his tone.

Glynda flared a look of sympathy before returning to her usual blank expression, "What were you thinking about earlier?" she pried.

Ozpin played his move carefully, "Just got off a call with the general about Qrow's mission and the whereabouts of Spring. Then we just did some catching up." he explained with his poker face.

Raised an 'Oh really' eyebrow while tapping a button on his desk. The holographic screen of two familiar ex-Beacon students expanded to a flat T.V. screen size display, "Catching up?" she asked sarcastically, "Ozpin why are you still fretting about this." she said crossing her arms with a concerned tone.

Ozpin sighed and looked away, "Because I'm mostly responsible for what happened to them, and I can't allow my mistake to affect the innocent lives of people I don't want involved." he pounded his cane lightly.

"What happened to and team LVHC (Livek) was indeed very unfortunate, but your worry of an event that happened years ago is distracting you from what really needs to be focused on right now." Glynda lectured.

"I am simply being cautious, Glynda. With Chad residing in Bergseite, Raven in Mistral with her tribe and Lindiwe nowhere to be found. I need to be very critical on who I decide to let in on the secret next, if I ever decide to again." Ozpin explained himself, trying to get his point through.

Glynda knew trying to argue with him would be futile, so the next best thing was to be reasonable, "Just don't lose focus on the task at hand, we need you in this war. If you ever need to clear your mind you know you have me to talk to, I'm not just your assistant. I'm your friend, we've known each other long enough to open up to each other if the stress becomes overwhelming. And with Qrow searching for the Spring maiden we should be making sure Fall is on our side. They'll be looking for her to, and we need to protect her." Glynda turned off Ozpin's computer, "So please, if the past is still bothering you… don't hide it from us, from me, atleast." she walked up and put a gentle hand on Ozpin's shoulder.

Hearing those words be said took more weight off Ozpin than Glynda probably thought, how he was so lucky to acquire such an ally he would never figure out. Out of all the lives he's lived on this planet no one has been more loyal than her. He would be forever in her debt.

Glynda pulled her hand back and made for the elevator, "I'm going to have tea with Professor Peach for lunch, I'll send combat reports from my classes today afterwards." she pressed the button and the elevator opened.

"Glynda…"

The cold faced blond teacher turned to the coffee addicted headmaster.

Ozpin had almost forgotten what he was going to say, "Thank you… for everything…" he sat at his desk with his elbows propped up, "You have no idea how grateful I am to have you at my side." his warm hearted smile infected Glynda.

She nodded with the same heart warming smile and nodded, "Of course, Ozpin.", and with that, the elevator had separated their gazes at each other.

Ozpin let out a heavy sigh, removing his spectacles and rubbing the stress from his eyes. Glynda had always spoken the truth, and yet again she was right. No one knew how to make his heart swell or his mind battle with his emotions like Glynda, but he wasn't going to stop worrying about the fate of Remnant. The power to destroy it was being drawn to one person's hands… Salem's hands. And the only people between her and that power was him and his inner circle.

Ozpin often wondered if Chad or Raven would come back some day. That his elevator would open to reveal one of his old students. As for Lindiwe, he was informed by her attempt to combat Salem, and the life of dear Summer Rose was lost because of it. Lindiwe went off the grid according to Chad after that day, so the odds of ever seeing her again were very slim.

However he still had hope that she was still out there, and maybe, just maybe, she would bring some form of hope onto the stage, and into the light. Ozpin once again looked out his window, getting an eye full of Vale city, looking at what was on the line. Maybe a little therapy with Glynda wouldn't be so bad.

"*sigh* What are you doing now, Lindiwe?"

* * *

"Our favorite… fairytale?" Kore asked like he misheard her.

Chestnut shot his hand up, "I like the three little piggies! But, only when they die." he voiced his opinion.

Next was Feliz, "I liked the ugly duckling, and at the time, Erin had to read it for us because you know." he poked his head.

Erin had an idea on what Lindiwe was referring to, "The story about the four maidens?" he questioned his choice.

"That's the one." Lindiwe confirmed.

Hugo held his chin, "The four sister maidens getting the power of the seasons from the old wizard." he remembers Erin reading such a tale.

Lindiwe explained the story to them, then explained how the power itself lived all these years. Whoever was in the maidens' thoughts last would inherit the powers upon the maidens death, but it had to be female, or it would go to some random woman.

She then told them of a group of people working in the shadows currently to hunt these maidens for their power, "Arthur Watts, Hazel Rainart, Cinder Fall, and Tyrian Callows. The one who murdered my Uncle '' she made sure not to say Salem.

Wait… why would she keep that name from them? She needed to start being honest.

More questions arose.

Kore stood up, "Ok ok wait, time out…" he made a 'T' with his hands "Before you tell us anything else, I want you to answer my question from before. This Summer person was killed for what? Silver eyes? What's so important about that!" he was getting annoyed at all the questions they were getting rather than answers.

Lindiwe nodded, "Silver eyes is an extremely rare trait. Silver Eyed warriors have a very unique ability that surpasses what any semblance could accomplish, even the Grimm have been known to fear them…".

"Ooooohohohohooo!" Chestnut cooed in excitement, "This is getting good! Keep going keep going!" he waved her on.

"Silver eyed warriors have a bit of magic in their genes, how it got there I don't know, what I do know is that they can vaporize Grimm with just a glare. Strike them so full of fear that they turn to stone, their abilities go on, but to sum it up. Silver Eyed warriors are grimm killing machines." she finished explaining.

"Damn..." Chestnut broke the silence, "So of the Jeepers Creepers group, who is the big boss guy?" Chestnut's question was surprisingly a good question.

Lindiwe was at war with her thoughts, "_Just say her name, say Salem! NO MORE LYING!"_, "Cinder Fall.", "_DAMN YOU LINDIWE!" _she screamed at herself. Was she really that scared of Erin knowing of Salem.

"So then, why are silver eyes so rare?" Hugo asked, "They seem good to keep around.".

Lindiwe took a few seconds to think, "Cinder may be hunting the maidens, but she saw the Silver Eyed warriors as a threat to her plans, she needs the grimm.".

"NEED the Grimm!?" Erin asked in disbelief.

Lindiwe nodded, "Because Cinder believes that with all the power of the maidens together, she could control the grimm, and shape Remnant into her image." she left those words hanging in the air, the atmosphere became dense.

The boys looked at each other with self doubt and a silent agreement of a much needed talk.

"Also what about the bad guys that work for Cinder? Aren't they helping her?" Feliz asked

Lindiwe looked at him, "Well at the time, so many years ago when this was all common knowledge, it was just her. They're- well SHE, is also partially responsible for why your semblance is extinct." the reactions she got were expected.

Their faces they made upon hearing that had already asked the question of 'how?', and so she answered.

"Split Walkers were commonly known for the element of surprise they had against their enemy, the ability to make more huntsmen pop out of nowhere took many criminal organizations off the streets and saved hundreds of settlements across Remnant. You never would have known if someone were a Split Walker just by looking at them, even then they were uncommon, but not impossible to find. Cinder has somehow been on this planet longer than any human or fanus is supposed to be capable of, she's spent years trying to find these maidens. Apart from Silver Eyed warriors, Split Walkers had posed a major threat when she was working alone, mainly because they were overwhelming to deal with. And the number of how many one could split off varied, but the most recorded was twenty-seven from one Split Walker alone, at least according to my father's notes." she was careful not to mention Salem. She wasn't lying entirely, only take Cinder and replace it with Salem with the account that Salem is a magic wielding grimm demon. Dark magic is how she really dealt with those who opposed her.

"Your father's notes?" Hugo questioned.

"Ye-" Lindiwe's breath caught in her throat upon realizing her mistake, what she revealed.

Kore narrowed his eyes sharper, "So your dad didn't investigate the White Fang, he was in on this war, that's how he died. Because he and his team went after this Cinder person! Isn't it?!" Kore growled louder.

Lindiwe gave a sad nod before lifting her droopy eyes towards him, "It wasn't just my father… but also headmaster Ozpin.".

That also took everyone by surprise.

"But…" Feliz started, "Beacon is where we dreamed to go train someday, what do we do now?" he asked with eyes pleading for an answer.

No one knew how to answer.

Kore stood with force, "What does he know about us, about Erin's semblance?!" Kore raised his voice.

"Kore, Kore. We'll get our answers." Erin intervened, "How did she manage to beat the Split Walkers and Silver Eyed warriors that came after her if they were so powerful?" he asked while Kore simmered down.

Lindiwe thought more carefully on what to say, "Well I wasn't around that time ago, but I can only assume that she started forming her circle of ne'er-do-wells for support, probably some rouge huntsmen. Maybe even made friends with the criminal underworld to pull off a few assassinations for her, once she saw just how powerful these warriors were. I fear that's what happened to the legendary Silver Eyed warrior, the Grimm Reaper. But that's a different subject." she said, trying not to get off topic.

Lindiwe pushed her hair back and stretched her back before continuing, "Apart from Cinder now having them hunted all across Remnant, the academies only made things worse…" the looks on the boys faces were of shock and disbelief, "It's hard for those with disabilities such as D.I.D. to train as a huntsmen, so many challenges that got in the way of their training, the extra attention just one special kid needed cost resources and staff. The pressure caused many dropouts of students, and staff to quit. Training people with disabilities became increasingly challenging for the staff and headmasters to deal with, so the kingdoms council's made laws that put limitations on who could and could not join the huntsmen academies. Under the many disabilities on that list, your condition Erin, was on it…" she felt bad watching Erin's expression seem to drain of hope, but they wanted the truth. Even if she was leaving out Salem and the relics.

Lindiwe looked at everyone's dwelling expressions as she continued, "You can probably tell that that's how they became extinct over time. After over a decade now, they've been forgotten about by the people of the kingdoms. The knowledge of such power and what could be, scared people which brought grimm, some didn't believe the religions that preached the maidens. That common knowledge is now only known by a very selective few. Including you." she finished explaining.

It was silent, well except for Chestnut's, "Good story." comment which indeed got him some glares.

It was a long explanation, but that was all she could gather on the unfortunate fate of the Split Walker semblance.

Feliz was the first to speak, "So… Cinder is still looking for these maidens today with the help of those other guys you mentioned?" he asked innocently.

Lindiwe gave a slow reluctant nod.

Hugo spoke next, "And she's been present on Remnant longer than humanly possible, while being responsible for the death of so many warriors." he stated.

Lindiwe sighed through her nose, "It's a lot I know, but… look I'm sorry, I never intended to-".

"Sorry!" Kore shot up with his ears spiked, "Were long past sorries! We-!"

"Weee!..." Erin stood putting a hand on his chest, "Need to talk… just us." he looked at everyone that wasn't Lindiwe. And so they did, leaving the room to go outside.

"...", Lindiwe was at a loss of words, she looked down at the glass on the coffee table, and for a split second she saw Ozpin. Because that's who'd she become. A lying, shit face, deceiving, Ozpin. "*sniff*... what have I done?". No shower could wash away this feeling of disgust, she just lied right to their faces again about Cinder being the mastermind behind this. Salem had really left her fear stricken.

Maybe letting Erin go was the right thing to do. What was she thinking in the first place, he's just a kid, who just learned and still is learning how to use his semblance.

But then… who would stop Salem. What if he was the hope Remnant needed, and she just gave up on him.

None of this made sense.

Meanwhile on the cliff that gave a beautiful view of Tlaloc forest.

"This is not what we signed up for!" Kore pointed at the ground, defining his position on the matter.

Erin crossed his arms, "We agreed to be huntsmen did we not?!" he argued back.

"Yeah! Huntsmen! Killing the shit out of grimm! Not going on a magical adventure saving maidens because some wack-ass fairy tale turns out TO BE TRUE!" he stomped forward.

"I thought when we were in the woods, you said you didn't care about what WE DID!" Erin shot back.

Hugo stepped between them to avoid a violent resolution, "Erin, you have admit. This all sounds preposterous, magic women, a human roaming the planet longer than history itself?" he questioned while trying to get his point through, "I'm not even sure if she was honest with us.".

"I know right…" Chestnut grabbed their attention, "It sounds awesome! I mean I thought life was bland and boring as hell. Being in that village to just wake up and deliver damn fish. Laaaaaame!" he rolled his eyes.

Kore shot daggers at him, "Chestnut! Are you not pissed!? We just got told that the whole world has its head up its ass, a forever lady and her 'legion of doom' killed off your- our, no yeah, YOUR semblance…" he pointed at Erin, "And kinda those Silver Eyed people. Even the headmaster of Beacon, maybe the other headmasters know!" Kore growled baring his teeth, "This is beyond grimm… beyond us." he calmed.

Erin understood, he really did. A part of him wanted to say he was right, that they should pack up and leave, forget what they heard. But that would leave Yana and Uncle Matt in vain.

Hugo caught him with his eyes, "Were just kids Erin, this isn't what the average eleven year old does with his life." he tried being reasonable.

Chestnut grabbed Hugo by the shoulders and gave him a craving smile for thrill, "Oh but just look at all we've done as eleven year olds! We got attacked by grimm! We've killed Grimm! Then we ran from Chad, walked through a whole forest, and killed another grimm! We're not exactly the typical kid! Just imagine what we'll be doing as huntsmen!" he exclaimed with absolute need for adventure.

Hugo brushed him off and sighed.

Erin however got Chestnuts point, he raised his head in realization, "Chestnut has a point…" his words seemed alien to his friends for agreeing with Chestnut, "I mean, were not, and assuming you guys are my age, normal eleven year olds. We've done things and been through what most other kids would likely die doing… yet we're still here…" he looked at them all.

Kore's ears seemed to drop a bit, his claws he didn't know were drawn he retracted.

Erin continued, "I mean a chance to save the world from the shit it's in sounds like a call for us." he gestured to them.

"Or a call to death. If full fledged huntsmen before us couldn't do it, what makes us better candidates? It's common sense" Hugo crossed his arms.

Kore threw his hands in the air, "Thank you Hugo! Nice to know someone's on my side...:" he scoffed, "I can't believe you guys actually want to go back to that BITCH after spending over a month keeping us in the dark!" he spat with venom.

"Don't call her that!" Feliz spoke his first words upon being out here, "She's not a bad person, she just did a bad thing. Hating her isn't going to change anything." his opinion shocked everyone.

Erin gave a smile of appreciation while Kore pinched his nose and grumbled, "Feliz, why are you always so keen on defending the enemy.".

Feliz stepped forward, "But she's not the enemy! She's just scared and needs our help." he spoke of his own wisdom, "Do any of you guys remember what Uncle Matt told us? On our first fishing trip with him." he sounded sad.

Erin seemed to understand if his gloomed expression hadn't spelled it out, everyone else seemed to have the same effect from that question.

* * *

**A Few Years Ago**

Erin and his Uncle Matt sat quietly in a small boat, each with their own fishing poles with Erin's being smaller. The silence was only filled by the small sounds of nature until Uncle Matt decided to fill it himself, "Uggggh…" Erin looked over, "You having fun?" he asked awkwardly.

Erin hummed with a shrug, "Yeah, it's alright." he said simply looking back into the water.

Uncle Matt winced a bit at that, hoping for something, anything to break this barrier of silence between them.

"Do you love me?"

Uncle Matt was caught more off guard than an Atlas soldier, talk about going right for the jugular, "W-what kind of question is that? Of course I do.".

Kore grumbled, "_I call bullshit."_.

"_Hush you fool! No distractions!"_ Hugo hushed Kore.

Erin's eyes drooped like eggs, "Ok." his voice was raspy.

Uncle Matt slackened his posture, his shoulders dropping with his heart. He did this to himself, he deserved this neglect, but it was time to own up to it and try and fix things, "I don't blame you for being afraid of me… I failed you…" he put his rod to the side and looked at his nephew.

Erin pulled his eyes up to meet his Uncles sad gazed.

"When your parents passed me off to you I was scared, scared because I didn't know what I was doing, because I might let you down along the road… you were never the problem Erin. I let myself go because of the stress of my own worries, and I put all my rage out on you which was wrong, so, so wrong of me to do. I pushed you hard to do things that most other kids your age should have waited before learning when I should have let you play with your friends like a normal kid…" he began to feel his throat tighten and his eyes leak.

Erin's lip began to quiver as he faced the bottom of the boat, clenching his eyes shut, trying to keep the dam for her tears up.

His Uncle wiped his eye with his thumb, "Over the past years I've been a terrible father figure to you… I promised to take great care of you… and I couldn't even take care of myself *sniff*. And after letting you down, I wanna make things up to you-" he was cut off when Erin stood rapidly from his seat, but instead of brown hazel eyes.

They were a fiery red with shimmering tears.

"LET ME DOWN!? YOU THREW ME TO THE GROUND AND BEAT THE SHIT OUT OF ME LIKE A DOG! LEFT ME THERE LIKE A PIECE OF TRASH, REMINDING ME EVERY DAY THAT I WAS JUST A BURDEN THAT GOT FORCED INTO YOUR LIFE!" Kore's wrath heated the atmosphere, but his eyes suddenly twitched to yellow.

More tears poured down his face, "*sob* Left me alone when I needed a friend! Someone to talk to! When people pushed me away I hoped you would be there to catch me, but you *sob* you were just pushing me with them *sob*. And throwing bottles at me!" Feliz cried out, his eyes twitching to green.

"Do you know the risks I had to take to keep us alive! The shit that I had to go through inorder to make up for your lack of care! Blaming me for our lack of money and food like I robbed you of everything you had! YOU ROBBED **ME** OF MY CHILDHOOD WHILE DRINKING AWAY YOUR SORROWS AND WHAT LITTLE MONEY YOU DID HAVE!" Chestnut spewed out his pent up rage before his eye's flickered purple.

"Your actions as a guardian would shed shame on Erin's parents, as they should on you. Trying to elude your problems at a bar only supplemented more at home, and you only furthered in doing so by placing the weight of those difficulties on our shoulders! Using your guilt as a weapon to enforce your excuses as just! Forcing me out of childhood at such a young age by having me practice the necessary qualities of adult knowledge, and hurt me, when I wanted help. I… I had to teach myself! Just to appease YOU!" Hugo poured out the suffering he endorsed while containing his sobbing, then his eyes turned back to brown.

Erin turned away and hugged himself, "You did *sniff* this to me." He hugged his knees to his chest.

Uncle Matt was taken back at the outburst, but he was not surprised. The condition his nephew had was caused by trauma, trauma he caused to affect him.

His doing.

Uncle Matt stood himself up in his seat properly, hunching his back so the lake could mirror the man he had become, "When you told me you wanted to be a huntsman it scared me. A dangerous job it is fighting Grimm…. the thought of you losing your life when you start becoming a young adult worries me sick." he spoke in his croaky voice.

Erin continued looking away from him.

Uncle Matt needed to dig deeper, "But I can't stop you either…" Erin's head seemed to rise from its cover, Uncle Matt kept going, "I won't always be here for you, and you'll probably be happy about that, I don't blame you. But when I pass you can throw me in the trash and take the next chariot to Vale City and enroll in Signal. Get a job to pay for classes, and live your life." he finished hoping he would get a response.

Erin didn't look at him, he sniffed and wiped his nose, "You make it sound like I hate you. I want to be a huntsman so I could prove that I have some worth in this world and make you proud." he said, finally turning his red puffy eyes to his Uncle.

Uncle Matt shook his head, "Erin you certainly don't need to prove anything to me, and I'm more than proud of you, more than I give you credit for.".

Erin sniffed and cleared his throat, "Thanks." he half hearted his response.

Uncle Matt continued, "Which is why I promise to never fall that low again. I don't want you being afraid of me like you are now, I want us to laugh and have fun together. You know, I want you to do great things outside of this old place. And though I'm against the whole huntsman thing, if that's what you end up doing then there's not a doubt in my mind you're going to accomplish greatness. I know you're gonna change the world because you're a tough kid, you're dedicated, and you've got heart. That's something not a lot of people have these days. At least not for the right reasons. " he spoke from the heart.

Those words were like waves pushing all the weight off his chest, washing away the stress and anger he'd been repressing.

Uncle Matt smiled at him, "I just wish your father could see you right now. Maybe we can finally talk about your old man if you want." he suggested. This would be where they start fresh. Where Uncle Matt got a second chance.

Erin didn't say anything for a bit which worried Uncle Matt. "I don't need to know about my dad…" Erin moved closer for their shoulders to touch, "I got you." he leaned his head to rest on his Uncle's arm.

Uncle Matt draped his arm over his nephew, his heart swelling bigger than his ribcage could handle. He wasn't going to screw up again, he wasn't going to fail his nephew. If he could describe his nephew right now, he'd say…

A greatness blooming into a world changer.

* * *

**Present**

The memory Feliz reminded them about got everyone thinking, not even Chestnut had an inappropriate remark to make. That was Feliz for ya, shy to speak his mind, but when he did it always seemed to catch them off guard. You never knew what he was going to say, he just seemed to know what to say, and when to say it. Impressive for a guy with aspergers.

Kore and Hugo looked at each other as if speaking telepathically, obviously thinking on what to consider at this point.

After a long debate on the matter at hand, everyone was finally on board to stay… well… mostly.

"Raagghh!"

***CRACK!***

Kore punched the rock wall with an aura protected fist, yet he removed his hand from the slim crack he made and rubbed his knuckles, shaking his head, "Fine… we stay. We stay, and we deal with this horse shhHHIT!" he took a few deep breaths, "Because Uncle Matt believes in us… and I do too." he made his voice quieter, "I just don't want us dying… when we finally get to stand together… as an official team."

Erin smiled at the usually angry fanus showing a crack in his tough guy armor.

Feliz took Kore semi by surprise and hugged him tightly.

Kore went wide eyed as his ears pointed up, "N-no Feliz I *sigh*." it would be a sin not to hug back, and so he did.

Erin would burst out laughing, but he got a better idea, "Group hug!" he shouted joining in.

Hugo went saucer eye'd to, "Oh nonono I'm goo- NO!" he cried out as Chestnut hooked him in.

"I don't consent! Unhand me you crazy bastard!"

"Just accept it!"

"If I have to go through it so do you!"

* * *

Lindiwe sat waiting, thinking about all the bad things they were saying about her right now, it sure was taking longer than she expected, but she was in no position to push. After half lying to them, only about Cinder killing all those warriors, she also left out a few important details on what the maidens DID in fact do with their powers. What would her father think of her right now, using a child to fight in a war she had given up on a long time ago. I guess that's what hope does to you, it sparks a flame of desire to try, to make an effort when you thought all was lost.

Karma was going to come and bite her hard in the ass in the future. Would she be ready? Definitely not.

Her thoughts were cut off by the sound of the back door opening to the outside. The colorful group made their way back in, their expressions were not happy looking.

Go figure.

Lindiwe sighed, she saw this coming, "Well… I'm sorry again… I guess this is goodbye." her voice drained of hope, eyes hung in defeat. However the boys didn't move, keeping their eyes on her.

"When do we start?" Erin had asked in a serious tone.

Lindiwe's spirit had taken an adrenaline shot, her eyelids exposing more white,"You're… you're not leaving?!" she was in utter shock.

Erin dropped the serious voice for a more friendly one, "Were not abandoning you. Granted this all sounds crazy." he said reassuringly, making Lindiwe's heart flutter.

Kore had his arms crossed as he growled, "Were not exactly trusting you either, neither are we friends." he grumbled.

Those words stung, but Lindiwe knew she deserved it.

Hugo spoke next, "But we will grant you a second opportunity to earn our trust once again, mainly by ensuring we don't become deceased." he joked, sort of.

Chestnut pushed through them, "And we need something to do that sounds fun! Thank you for providing such an adventure." he bowed, much to Lindiwe's confusion.

She raised an eyebrow, "Umm… your welcome?" she didn't know what to really say.

Kore pulled him back, "Yeah, because getting us involved in a magical war of maidens and power hungry freaks, sounds like 'fun'." his sarcasm was evident.

Once again, Lindiwe felt like crap.

Feliz came up to her, "I still think we can be friends, but you gotta start trusting us, we still think you are a good person…" Kore rolled his eyes as Feliz grabbed Lindiwe's hands and pulled her from the couch chair, "And only together can we do this." he gave a hopeful smile with eyes that penetrated hope into her soul.

Lindiwe had never felt this kind of passion for anyone since Summer, she wasn't going to lose faith in them, she wouldn't let them suffer the same faith as Summer Rose. She'd be better this time.

This was her second chance. And as long as she kept the whole truth, she was at risk of destroying that chance.

She wanted to cry, but held it in, "I'm honored you would still train with me after my misdemeanor.".

"You introduced this mess to us, it would only be logical you taught us how to clean it." Hugo smiled.

Lindiwe looked upon all of them. The hope of Remnant possibly stood in this room, but they were far from ready. So until then, the responsibility dawned on her shoulders.

"Let's get you guys your weapons."

* * *

Night had finally arrived with the moons shattered face saying hello to Velem forest, where currently Woods had camped out in a small cave that didn't dig that deep in. Just enough for woods to sit in front of a campfire and watch the entrance.

This sucked, not having a partner meant no one to watch your back from grimm to get some shut eye, and having no semblance made him vulnerable. It was a miracle he was able to hold his own during that Grimm attack a while ago, but he did his duty, maybe that's why the lieutenant chose him for this task force.

On the bright side, he had aura, thanks to his mother. And he got his canteen full. Whoopty doo.

He wasn't the best fighter by a long shot, but he knew how to shoot and swing a club. Hence Trifold, his greatest achievement, and a step closer to saving lives. Yet he couldn't help but be reminded of all the death and blood that tarnished those roads no matter how well they were cleaned. Walking through the village, he could hear the faint screams of children crying for their parents, people howling in pain from the teeth making contact with their flesh.

Wood's sighed , rubbing the tiredness from his eyes and trying to push those thoughts from his mind down.

Suddenly a clicking noise was heard from the entrance of the cave, making Wood's forget about what he was struggling to repress. The mouth had some distance from Wood's, and the light from the fire didn't reach the full length of the cave.

"Hello?" his voice echoed down, he squinted trying to see anyone or thing at the mouth of the cave, but it was too dark to tell.

The clicking noise continued, only now it seemed it was coming from inside the cave now.

James was starting to get creeped out as he stuck one of the sticks from his pile into the fire, catching it a flame. He hurled it at the entrance.

.

.

.

.

.

"Oh god." he whispered.

It was like someone took a page from a book of horrors and brought it to life.

The walls, the ceiling, the floor were crawling with baby Deathstalkers converging onto his position.

Their freckled eyes glowed red as the cave mouth hissed with angry insect Grimm.

James went pale as he transformed Trifold into its gun form.

***BANG!***

***BANG!***

***BANG!***

***BANG!***

The barrels spun spitting lead.

One dead deathstalker got replaced by two more, their tiny exoskeleton legs clicked with their fast pacing. Dozens of pinchers snipped at him, yellow stingers snaked above eager for blood.

Shit! They just keep coming!

Woods was beginning to lose his head. He needed to do something NOW!

An idea lit up his face, grabbing the pile of sticks and dumping them on the hungry flame.

He spent a few precious seconds keeping the small scorpion Grimm back while the sticks took a flame.

When the Grimm got close enough he kicked the fire towards them. Ash, embers, and flaming sticks sizzled on the Grimm, they squealed like pigs getting slaughtered. Those lucky enough to be missed went around the dancing flames using the walls.

Wood's slapped in a new clip and turned a knob on the side. He held down the trigger and the barrels began spinning, bullets came out in rapid session while lighting up the cave like a strobe light. Pieces of white shell and rock shot into the air. A few from the ceiling tried landing on him, but got full of holes before disintegrating.

Woods backed up, loaded another clip and let hell loose.

He kept this process up, but they didn't seem to lower in numbers. When the Grimm got close enough Woods transformed back to his metal club and resorted to swinging and smashing.

***SMASH!* **

***CRACK!***

***CRUNCH!***

He flattened Grimm after Grimm, even stomping on a few of them, one jumped on his arm, but he grabbed it by the tail and threw it hard against the wall. They kept coming, and he was running out of room to back up, his aura protecting against a few stings and snips.

Any moment now the scouts would have to rescue him and he'd be disqualified. This was it, he gave it his best shot, guess there was always next ti-

***BANG!***

***BANG!***

***BANG!***

***BANG!***

***BANG!***

***BANG!***

***BANG!***

The cave erupted once again with gunshots, but not from his weapon, must be the scouts here to save his sorry ass. Couldn't even last a day, how sad. He crushed every last Grimm around him until they all turned to ash.

He put a hand on his knee to catch his breath and wiped off his sweat brow before looking up at the lonesome figure at the cave entrance. The scout who saved him began walking towards him, holding two pistols.

"I guess this means I'm out." he disappointingly grabbed his pack and weapon, ready to head out.

"Actually…" a femanine voice spoke, and it sounded very familiar, yet tired and raspy, "How about you share some water, and we'll call it even." Samantha stepped into the light of the scattered embers and flames with a smile, her face painted with soot and her hair had seen better days. She wore red and yellow armor that really pictured her curves, but she wore bulky ballistic armor to cover more private areas. She holstered her pistols drunkenly before falling forward.

"Samantha!" he dropped his bag back and caught her a foot from meeting a future headache. He dragged and sat her against the wall. She was still awake and grumbling something.

Wood's knew what she was saying despite not understanding her slurred words. He grabbed the weighted canteen from his bag, "Here you-" the canteen was suddenly in Samantha's hand and was already being drained, "Go" Wood's finished looking from his hand to her.

She let out a moan of absolute rejuvenation and the pleasure of extinguishing her burning thirst with loud greedy gulps, water strayed down the sides of her face, "*GASP!* *GASP!* *gasp!* Thank you! *gasp!*" she gave her heart filled gratitude.

"Yeah yeah no problem…" he took the now light canteen, "What happened out there?" he began rebuilding the fire pit.

Samantha took a few seconds to catch her breath and think properly, "Grimm… lots of them. Killed a lot, but more came, then my canteen was empty and I didn't even find a stream. Then I just spent I don't know how long just wandering aimlessly through the forest only to find more grimm, and a few others getting saved or not wanting me in their group. Eventually I heard gunshots and found you." she finished her story. Samantha checked her pistols and extra clip count, "And I'm low on ammo." she sighed in frustration.

Wood's felt like he was partially responsible for that, "S-sorry about that." he rubbed the back of his neck.

"Nonon! You're fine, you were worth it." her face felt like it was glowing brighter than the embers, "I-I mean because y-you were in danger and now I'm not alone anymore…" she explained what she meant, "And I got water, thanks again.".

Wood's just shook his head and chuckled, "It's nothing really." he stood up from finishing a new fire.

"I'll take first watch Wood's." she started picking herself up sluggishly like her body was half asleep.

Wood's put a serious face on, "Woah woah hell no, you're sleeping. Unless you want us both dead by morning." he walked her to the spot he sought best for sleeping and placed his pack to be a pillow.

"B-but-" she started.

"Hey, Samantha, I got this." but she didn't look convinced, "I got this." he whispered with a reassuring tone and smile.

Samantha trusted Woods, even only knowing him for about a month and a half, he had this charm that made him so trustworthy and easy to get along with, "Ok." she croaked, laying down and almost immediately fell asleep, but she caught Wood's by the hand at the last second.

They both looked into each others eyes with curiosity, swimming in each other's gaze, almost forgetting what situation they were in.

Wood's breath jammed in his throat looking into those beautiful yellow jewels, "Ugh… w-what's up?" he could feel his stomach grow fuzzy and his face heat up.

Samantha was having an emotional rollercoaster of her own. OH SHIT! Why did she do that! Quick make something up so you don't look like a complete IDIOT! She grabbed one of her pistols from its leathery home and slapped it into his palm with 'sextus' engraved on it, "Take one of these with you, you know how to shoot." she mentally applauded herself for a nice save.

Wood's cleared his throat, "Oh, hehe, thanks." he examined it's glamorous design.

"You better not dare drop her." Samantha got kinda mean, kinda playful, making Wood's chuckle lightly while also being a bit intimidated.

"She's in good hands." he wiggled the gun in his grip before beginning his look out.

Before Samantha drifted off she got one last look at Wood's, thinking how lucky she was to find him at such a good time.

Wouldn't have chosen anyone better.

* * *

A Beowulf was sent smashing through a tree the other two taking a more defensive position.

"Come oooooooonn!" Rhino howled with enthusiasm.

A Beowulf from behind leapt at him, but Rhino spun and whacked it aside with Blitzkrieg. Knowing that was a distraction, he spun and obliterated the two Grimm trying to get the jump on him.

"Is that all you got!" Rhino pushed down on the top lever, the ejectors spitting out the hot smokey shells, then using a speed loader to load four new shells in.

A long howl cried from thick blackness.

More Beowulf's speed through the forest shadows, their red eyes and accents being the only sign of telling where they were.

Blitzkrieg sent chunks of grim parts and bone flying into their friends. Even a few trees suffered a gruesome fate, part of their trunks resorting to splinters.

However they began out numbering Rhino.

One jumped on Rhino's back which he easily threw off, but they kept pouncing on him. Biting and clawing at him until he was a pile of black fur and white bone.

"GRAAAAAAAAAGH! Rhino sent an explosion of Grimm outward with them all surviving. Some confused on what had happened, others taking position to attack again.

Rhino breathed heavily from anger. His green aura glowed around him, but it seemed to be glowing from in his skin. His usual grey skin with dark blotches was glowing green from within, even his eyes and mouth were giving off a supernatural glow of emerald green. Blitzkrieg being around his arm began to transform, the barrels shifting down and to the sides of the weapon, the whole top of the weapon shifted back, the metal shell revealing a iron fist. The fingers of the fist opened and closed, as if Rhino was getting a feel for it.

Rhino slapped the side of his metal helmet and gave a savage snort, "RRAAAAAAGH!" he charged at the closest Grimm and collided metal with bone. Shattering its mask and teeth to pieces, instantly killing it.

One by one each Grimm suffered a much similar and stomach churning fate. One Grimm testing its luck by going for an attack from Rhino's back, ended up getting his jaw ripped off.

Rhino grunted finishing off the last Beowulf, looking around at the dissolving corpses. His green inferno eyes spotted a Boartusk spinning right at him with speeds of a race car.

Rhino didn't even move instead, he pumped out his chest as if saying 'bring it on!'.

The Boartusk kicked up dirt and grass from its speedy trail, but upon making impact.

***CRACK!*"**

It's tusks shattered like glass hitting his chest, making a crack on its face mask.

It squealed in pain as it shook its head, clearly dazed.

Rhino walked up to it and brought his anvil like foot down on it's head, crushing and killing it, its body vaporizing to ash.

Rhino seethed his pent up anger, and deactivated his semblance, his skin dimming back to grey. Putting it into his fighting made him a 'rhino' indeed,.

His anger turned to curiosity when hearing a low heavy growl come from the brush.

"You want some of THIS!" Rhino pointed his metal fist at the rustling bushes and fired two shots, making the bushes stop. He smiled at his kill, until he noticed a shadowy figure arise from the smoking bush, standing much taller than him and any of the other Beowulfs he fought. Red devilish eyes emitted a nerve wracking sensation of hunger and blood lust.

The Alpha Beowulf stepped into the moonlight, licking its teeth as it salivates over its prey. It circles Rhino, looking for an opening.

The large fanus kept his eyes locked onto the furry beast, "Well aren't you cute." he taunted in a gushy voice. This Beowulf wasn't like the others, its mass of black fur was larger with claws that resembled machetes, and had several more bony spikes protruding from its back. Its bony armor covered more of its body from years of growing.

Rhino shrugged of the last fight and readied for this one, he pawed at the ground with his other hand and let out an angry snort before charging. The tip of his metal armored horn shimmered in the moon.

The Alpha stood on its hind legs and waited, noticing Rhino had no intent of stopping. Once the fanus got close enough it back handed Rhino, sending him rolling and taking part of the ground out with him.

Rhino let out a frustrated grunt, "Damnit!" he grumbled punching the ground and standing up, raising his fist and firing his last two shots at the Grimm, but it doged them with ease and jumped at him. Its frame eclipsing the moon for its red open mouth and eyes to be seen.

Rhino reared back his gauntlet, stepped forward and drove it into its gut, the crack of its rib armor was music to his ears, "YEAH! Bet that felt nice aye!" he boasted.

The Alpha whimpered as it staggered back, but it growled a few seconds before snapping its large jaws forward, catching Rhino by his gauntlet. The Alpha whipped its head side to side like it was trying to tear a piece of meat from a corpse. Seeing it couldn't do that, it picked Rhino up and flung him around like a chew toy until letting go and sending him through a few trees.

The trees rustled with a loud thud as they hit the ground.

Rhino's aura held strong and wasn't taking too much damage at all really, making it easy for him to stand and recover to see the Alpha pouncing toward him, "You son of a…" he grumbled. He wasn't very smart with planning, but he loved ideas that involved smashing, so thinking quick on his feet he grabbed the trunk of a fallen tree and swung it like a bat, "BITCH!".

The Alpha Beowulf brought its paws up to take the brute force of the tree, splintering in half upon impact and sending the large grimm flying back, destroying much of nature's plants.

Rhino dropped the broken trunk and dust off his vest before walking to where he sent that bitch ass grimm sprawling.

The Alpha clawed its way to its feet, "**RRRAAAGGGHHH!"** it bellowed with rage, placing its paws on two trees to be used as support to stand itself up, looking directly at a confident looking Rhino walk up.

Rhino returned Blitzkrieg to its shotgun form and loaded it, preparing to finish this fight as he and the Grimm death glared each other.

Suddenly out from the depths of the blackened forest, several arrow like projectiles stuck themselves into the paws of the large grimm, pinning it to the trees, "**RRRAAAGGGHHH!" **it howled in pain, and it only worsened when trying to break free.

Rhino didn't question it, instead snorting a heated clump of air before charging horn first at the grimm, giving an increasingly loud battle cry until Rhino tore through the Alpha's body like paper. Leaving a huge gaping opening in its midsection.

The leader beowulf twitched its ear before going limp and disintegrating into the night sky.

The sound of something hitting the ground made Rhino spin around, pointing his weapon at the source.

"Wow wow there big guy, it's just me." Leo raised his hands and bow in the air.

After a few seconds of intense staring Rhino lowered his gun, "I could've taken it." he smirked.

* * *

**The next day**

Kore slashed his new Wolverine like claws across a Beowulf, trying to kill it, but ended up getting knocked back into a tree. Earning a frustrated growl, "Damnit!" he roared charging back into battle.

* * *

**Yesterday in the forage room**

"I believe these will suffice for you, based on your desire for punching things." Lindiwe handed Kore a pair of long brown leather gloves with three thin sheaths built in for metal claws no longer than his forearm. And two red leather boots with wires and a small metal box strapped on the ankle and hooked up to a device on the bottom of the boots.

Upon Kore putting them on he examined them, "How do I get the blades out?" he asked, slapping the sides of the gauntlet, "And are these rocket boots?" he looked down at his bulky wiry boots.

But before Lindiwe could answer, Chestnut stepped in, "What! Where are my rocket boots!?" he drooled over Kore's new kicks.

* * *

**Present**

Kore rocket jumped in the air, getting some height before using gravity to stab his claws through the bone mask of the Grimm, "Alright who next!?" he looked around to see a Creep (which is a two legged lizard Grimm) erupt from the ground and point its head at him.

Kore smiled, showing off his canines before running at it.

Chestnut came out of nowhere and bashed it to the side with his shield causing Kore to abort his attack and run into Chestnut, bringing them both to the ground.

"AH! Damnit Chestnut I had it!" Kore growled picking himself up before pulling his green idiot friend up by the collar.

"I didn't hear you call it!" Chestnut argued back.

Their argument was cut off when the creep swung its tail and knocked them both back down.

* * *

**Yesterday**

Lindiwe unracked a shiny metal shield engraved with patterns of curly lines, circles, and a larger circle in the middle of it. It looked old and ancient, yet it seemed like it was made just yesterday. She handed it to Chestnut.

Chestnut took it with a disappointed face, "How do I cut things with a shield?" he examined the shield, "Can't I have that!" his eyes sparkled and his finger pointed to the deadly large battle ax they saw when first walking in. The ax gave off a creepy vibe, its crown like blade was engraved with symbols that were unknown to any of the boys.

Lindiwe hid a cringe looking at the Grimm like ax, "Mmmmm, that one's off limits. A part of my father's personal collection." she knew the dark history of that ax.

"Oohhhh but it's like it's calling to me!" he stuck his tongue out.

"Chestnuuut…" Erin spoke out, "Don't be ungrateful.".

Chestnut grumbled a thanks, but Lindiwe put a hand on the shield, "Aawww, but this is no ordinary shield Chestnut. I actually made this myself…" she admired the shield.

Hugo wasn't that surprised, "Teachings from your father, I presume?".

Lindiwe nodded before looking back at Chestnut, "This shield was made specifically to absorb aura, and be able to dish it out as raw energy." she explained.

"Wow, so aura can be distributed into other objects? That's awesome, why didn't you mention that?!" Erin gleamed with excitement.

Kore crossed his arms, "Wouldn't be the first time." he grumbled to himself, but didn't go unheard.

Lindiwe sighed, deciding not to acknowledge the comment, "I was going to save it for a lesson, but I guess there's no time like the present. If you concentrate hard enough, you can accumulate aura into a weapon such as this to increase its durability, damage, or even send that energy to hurt your enemies. With this shield, and your aura, you can dispense a burst of knockback energy into your foes." she explained with pride in her creation.

Chestnut looked at the shield with more eagerness to try it out, slipping his arms through the straps in the middle that weren't straps, but handles oddly., "So how do I do it?!" he asked with desire to learn something cool.

Lindiwe just smiled, "Not any time soon, and definitely not in here. Training and focus will lead you to mastering this skill, but for now, get a feel for this weapon.".

Chestnut gave a hum as if saying 'alright, fine', "Still though, blades would have been cool." he commented.

Lindiwe hummed tapping her chin, catching Chestnut's attention, "There are a few more things this shield has to offer." she said raising a finger.

* * *

**Present**

Chestnut stood up and with a smile followed by a sinister laugh, his shield made a noise like something was unlocking. The shield unlatches itself in half and transforms itself in a few more areas to become two crescent shaped slek blades. Chestnut had now understood what the handles on the shield were for, their BLADE form.

"**MINE!"** both Chestnut and Kore claimed the kill in union, charging at the grimm in sync.

Meanwhile, Feliz was watching Hugo and Erin fight while looking for a target of his own with his two katanas that were desperate for a slice at something. He wasn't used to being able to think on his own, usually if he ever got control he would follow what the others were telling him to do. So this was a big change of pace.

Hugo swung his morning star into the jaw of a Creep, killing it, but also noticing Feliz just standing there like a lost puppy on the street, "Feliz! What the hell are you doing!?" he shouted, fending off a Beowulf that took its chances with him.

Feliz looked at all the surrounding grimm, "W-which one do I go for!?" he panicked looking around like an answer would present itself, and it did. A Beowulf's shadow overcasted on Feliz behind him, and out of pure panic, Feliz swung his sword around with no apparent form or technique. As luck would have it, Feliz lobbed off the grimms claw and head, killing it instantly.

Feliz stared wide-eyed at the black clouding body, "Wow… these are sharp." he looked at his swords.

* * *

**Yesterday**

Lindiwe unsheathed two katanas from their resting places and walked towards Feliz.

Feliz tensed, "*gasp!* Me next!" he lit up in excitement.

Lindiwe spun the swords in sync with each other, the blades slicing through the air with whistles and making the boys stare in awe. She finished by holding the hilts toward Feliz for him to take.

Feliz stared in awe at his huntsmen weapons, his grin glowing brighter as he firmly grasped the katanas, getting used to their weight and a feel for how to hold them.

Lindiwe then held a black sword strap with two scabbards in an 'X' shape, "These swords Feliz, can also be channeled with aura, and released as a weapon." she strapped the scabbards on him.

Feliz tried sheathing the swords and was failing, so Lindiwe helped him with a warming smile.

* * *

**Present**

"I got one guys!" Feliz raised his swords in triumph.

Erin was sent sprawling to the ground by a Creep's tail toward Feliz. He stood up on one knee, "That's great Feliz, but how about actually getting into the fight instead of waiting for it to come to you." he grabbed his sword and charged back into the heat of the battle.

Kore and Chestnut had once again went for the same target, but Kore had had enough, "Piss off dipshit!" he shoved Chestnut to the ground, taking his target alone.

"What the hell assface!" Chestnut turned over to see a Beowulf about to claw him while he was vulnerable.

A morning star attached to a chain crushed its face in, killing it. The ball'n chain retracted back to the metal shaft in Hugo's hand, "On your feet you fool." he backed Chestnut up.

* * *

**Yesterday**

Lindiwe handed Hugo two small morning stars. Metal handles with a small hoop on the ends, and a can shaped attachment just under the spiked ball.

"Morning stars, such a classic weapon." Hugo commented

"I'm sure you'll use these responsibly." Lindiwe stated confidently.

"Absolut-" the spike ball attached to a chain shot out of the shaft and knocked down a table of weapon parts and other materials. Earning a few snickers from his friends to fill the awkward silence.

"As soon as you teach me how to use them." Hugo clarified.

* * *

**Present**

Erin sent a few slashes at a Beowulf which successfully hurt it, but didn't kill it. Getting frustrated, he took the easy way by pointing his sword at the Grimms head, and pulled a trigger on the handle which shot a dagger from the tip.

* * *

**Yesterday**

Lindiwe took down another scabbard with a sword snugged in it, pulling out to expose its shiny thin lengthy blade. She laid it along the table for everyone to get a good look. It was a long, wide Chakuta sword with a long grip, a hand guard with three metal spikes protruding from it, and a single spike poking from the butt of the sword, "My father and I made this blade, something we both did together before he left on his mission. It has a few different functions, ideas I had, he thought we should try to put them into one weapon." she explained looking deeply into her reflection on the blade.

Erin touched her arm, bringing her out of her trance, "I'll take good care of it then." his words were truthful

"I know you will..." she returned a heart warming smile, "Now each of you will be put through the training simulator at least once to practice all your weapon functions before we begin a test tomorrow." she declared her plan.

"A TEST!" the multi colored boys shouted in union.

"Yep…" Lindiwe smiled like an innocent girl, "Tomorrow you will have your first battle with Grimm as huntsmen in training." she stated proudly

* * *

**Present**

Erin let his guard down pulling back on the bolt located on the handle to load another dagger in his sword/gun. He left himself open to be jumped by a Creep, its weight pushing the air out of Erin's lungs as he fell on his stomach. Its large feet and claws pinning him to the ground, one on his back and the other on his wrist. Erin looked up to see a panicked Feliz, "Could use some FELIZ!" he cried out, his reach too short to grab his weapon.

"H-hang on!" he took a few shaky steps toward the beast while pointing one of his swords at it. The Creep bellowed groggily before snapping at Feliz, making him jump back in surprise. Erin groaned in pain and irritation.

The Creep went for a bite on Erin, but cold metal wrapping around its neck suddenly pulled him off its meal. "YES!" Hugo shouted in triumph, "I finally performed successfully!" he cheered. Hugo had been attempting to use his ball's chain to coil around his target in the training simulator, but it proved to be a more difficult task than he had anticipated. Practice would make perfect though, or luck.

Hugo's carelessness in boasting in battle resulted in a Boartusk getting the jump on him, or more like the horn. Since it spun into him and sent him into a boulder with its tusk, the resulting feeling made sure not to make the same foolish mistake. But since his weapon was still around the Creep's neck, it got pulled off Erin.

Erin made a quick recovery in grabbing his sword and was about to kill the Creep, but it burrowed away. Erin was now face to face with a pissed off Boartusk, "Oh shhhhit.".

Feliz was behind him in his own panicked state, still unknowing on what to do. The Creep from before popped from the grass behind him. Making Feliz yelp and spin around to send a slice through the air, missing the Grimm. "Uuuugh, n-nice Grimm?" he questioned what he just said, realizing it didn't make sense. Grimm were anything but nice.

The Creep hissed before leaping at him, its dagger talons wanting blood. Feliz brought his swords up in scared defense, but nothing happened.

He looked to see where the Grimm should have been only to see Kore now wrestling with it, and wasn't having much luck, "Grrrr! Feliz! Are you just going to STAND THERE!" he growled avoiding a snapping pair of jaws.

Feliz was about to make a move, when a sudden unbalancing weight presented itself on his shoulders.

"I GOT IT!" Chestnut leaped off Feliz's shoulders, making Feliz tumble, and slicing through the Creep like butter.

Feliz and Kore stood up, noticing the absence of Grimm, well…

"Chestnut, could you n-" Feliz started, but Erin's body cut him off by crashing them both onto the ground.

"SQUEEEEEEEEEEAL!" the Boartusk snarled, pawing at the ground.

Kore and Chestnut took a stance.

"I got this!" Kore stepped forward.

"I can fight too!" Chestnut aligned with him.

"You'll just get in the way!" Kore and Chestnut head butting were separated by a purple haze.

"Enough you fools, now step aside so I can handle this without interruption." Hugo had had quite enough of the others.

Erin and Feliz stood up from each other.

"Hugo, it's better if we work together!" Erin suggested.

The Boartusk squealed before spinning rapidly and shooting itself like a cannonball.

Hugo had only a split hair of a second to avoid getting a truck load of pain sent to his body. Upon sidestepping he lashed out his chain to coil around its horn, but things didn't exactly go as planned when Hugo was dragged to the dirt and tripped Erin and Feliz.

Lindiwe sighed and face palmed, looking down on Hugo being drug around, Feliz not knowing what to do, Chestnut and Kore fighting each other instead of the enemy, and Erin not taking the initiative to keep everyone in check, or working together. This was going to take time, but she had a plan to speed up the training process.

She hopped down from the rock ledge she was observing from, the grass providing a soft landing for her to roll on. Examining the scene of the huntsmen in training trying to handle a Boartusk that just kicked Hugo off with its hind legs, and was now going for Kore.

Kore noticed this and glared at it, accepting the challenge, "Bring it, piglet!" he punched his hand then withdrew his metal claws.

"Kore you need to get it on its back, go for the underbelly!" Lindiwe instructed.

The Boartusk shot forward like a bullet towards its red fanus target.

Kore instead powered up his rocket boosters and blasted himself forward.

The two meet with a shockwave and sparks, but the Boartusk was winning as it pushed Kore back.

Kore dug his feet into the ground, caking up dirt as he held his claws up in an 'X', blocking the highly durable tusks and bony armor of the pig Grimm. His muscles were straining to keep the force back, sparks bit his face as a few inches of sweat creased his cheek. He could feel himself beginning to falter under its power, "RRAAAAA-GAGH!" he was flung into a tree.

The Grimm looked at Chestnut with fiery red burning eyes.

Chestnut quickly clasped his crescent blades back into the shield form and activated his aura, but the shield didn't do anything like he thought it would, "WHY AREN'T YOU WORKING!" he began to panic. Suddenly the shield felt like it got hit by a truck, knocking the wind out of him. A black and white haze engulfed his vision before being sent staggering.

The Boartusk squealed as a dagger nicked its tusk at breakneck speed. It turned to see Erin holding his sword at it, "Son of a bitch!" he was frustrated at his lousy shooting.

Feliz was more in front of Erin to the side, "W-why's it staring at me?!" he began to sweat.

The pig Grimm squealed at the spike of negative energy it felt.

Hugo grabbed his fallen morning star, "Feliz, don't be subject to fear! It's drawn to negative emotions!" he shouted to the scared blonde.

The Boartusk tanked after Feliz, Erin already tackling him out of the way.

***BANG!***

***BANG!***

***BANG!***

The large soulless pig roared in anger as it searched for whoever dared attack it. Its hot gaze landed on a women with dark skin, tight orange clothing, gold jewelry, and a necklace of canines. The Boartusk already beginning its ferocious stampede, steam fumed from its mouth .

Lindiwe's eyes narrowed, and time seemed to slow down as the Grimm advanced toward her, waiting till it was close enough. Aaaaaand- NOW!

Lindiwe side stepped and hooked Fishhook Barrel around its tusk, and pulled hard, keeping her iron grip from slipping. Using the momentum of the Grimm she flung it up and sliced through its under belly.

The Boartusk landing dead.

***Sssssssssssssssss!***

Its body disintegrating to ash.

The rainbow colored group formed up, but despite the victory, the atmosphere didn't feel triumphant or joyful. It didn't feel like a victory at all really, more like an undeserved win.

Lindiwe turned to them with a not so happy face, "Never have I seen a group of individuals literally be together for SOOO long act so divided amongst each other!" she pointed her blade at the green and red pair, "You two are more keen on each other than those you are up against! Your fooling around will get you both and others hurt, or even killed!" she scolded.

Kore growled, "Shit head here keeps getting in my way and taking my kills!" he gestured at Chestnut who looked taken back and stood to defend himself.

"I'm just trying to kill the Grimm just like you asshole, but you have to be like 'oh, I gotta prove I'm the toughest around let me take on a whole group of Grimm by myself with weapons I just got!'" he mocked.

Kore's ears shot up, "OH! Oh ok, like your crazy ass isn't stupid enough to do something like that!".

"I was crazy to try and work with you!"

"ENOUGH!" Lindiwei's voice rattled the forest, "I'll talk with you two later on your cooperation." she glared white hot knives at the two.

"Oh you wanna talk about cooperation…" he looked at Feliz, "How about piss pants over there who's too scared to do anything to help!" he suggested with growing annoyance.

"Sorry." Feliz mumbled, hugging himself, trying to shrink from sight of everyone's eyes.

Erin put a hand on his shoulder, "Hey lay off Kore, this is our first time." he pointed out.

Lindiwe beat Kore to respond, "All of you have something you can work on, Feliz's fears are just one of the many obstacles you will ALL find in your way of being a huntsmen." she spoke wisely. Her eyes pointing at Hugo, "Hugo, you seem to lack faith in your teammates. You know there are many mistakes to make on the battlefield, one of them being not trusting those you fight alongside with. Pushing them off to the side to take on an enemy you know very little of." she explained.

Hugo had a tint of pink in his expression, averting his gaze to the ground then back at her, "I-it's… it's just, *sigh* I overestimated myself, and I didn't see my teammates fit to aid me in this clash." he admitted with a frown and shame in himself.

His heavy words seemed to infect the spirits of his friends around him.

Kore's stone expression wavered a bit before going back to its sour mood, but he hadn't noticed his ears droop.

Lindiwe squinted at him, "Not fit to aid you, is that so…" she let her words hang in the dreaded air, "For someone with your state of mind and wisdom, I would recommend you reconsider your opinion if you wish to perform better, because being a better fighter doesn't just mean being stronger in a fight, but having a strong connection with those you fight WITH." she explained from her training experience from both Imperial Academy and Beacon.

Lindiwe then focused on the last person of the group, "You Erin…" her tone made Erin want to fall apart, "You need to understand the importance of keeping your team in order, guild them, lead them to the end goal. You know them more than I do, I expect you to be more willing to take charge when things are getting out of hand.".

She then looked at all of them, "However despite your feelings of dread, I wouldn't call this day a complete failure. You manage to hold your own after all with a little help, but take what you've learned from this experience and use it to further better yourself for next week." that last part left the boys in confusion.

"Next week?" Erin questioned.

Lindiwe nodded, "It is my goal as well as yours to get you all skilled enough to take on a group of Grimm TOGETHER and much easier, than today. In one… week" with that she turned and walked away to look at each other in surprise, they had one week.

One week.

* * *

**Later elsewhere**

Ming strolled through a field of white Peonies, bees speckled the air like dust particles, distant lizards eyeing her movement step by step. She took in the sound of natures creatures creating music to ease her soul, her armor lightly clanking. The cool breeze made up for the sun's hot touch, a few clouds created overcast, there might be rain. She took out her scroll and checked the time, two twenty p.m.. Day two had gone by without much disturbance so far, she was honestly hoping for some action at this point, but it was like she was invisible to everything around her.

However a butterfly fluttered around her face as if saying 'hello', landing on her helmet to keep her company and to acknowledge that she was indeed seen.

Ming brought her black gloved finger to her helmet. The butterfly accepted the new place to walk on, now being moved into the eyes of large black lenses. The butterfly showed off its large yellow, black, and blue triangular shaped wings, captivating Ming with its beauty.

"_Look Ming a butterfly." _a young girls voice filled the empty air.

She shot her head around with a gasp, "Chen?" Ming whispered with a running tear, masked by her helmet. She waved off the butterfly and held her head, taking a moment to gather herself once again, when she heard a rustling in the tall field of white flowers. The bees and other insects fleeded in a swarm away from whatever was causing the commotion, the flowers being crushed by whatever was advancing on her.

Ming shot out her wrist blade and had three red labeled shurikens at the ready, getting into a battle ready stance.

.

.

.

.

Silence.

.

.

.

.

"**SSSSSSSSSSSSAAA!"**

A massive white snake Grimm with red markings on its forehead, baring its massive fangs shot out like a lightning strike.

Ming rolled to the side, throwing his shurikens that pinged off its steely scales and popped like dynamite in the air. Another snake shot out from the forest, this one being black scaled with red and white markings on its forehead.

The large Grimm snake was sure to have had struck its target, but it felt nothing but air in its mouth.

Ming jumped through the top of the snakes head using her semblance and unfazed herself to jab her wrist blade atop its head.

The snake hissed and buckled in pain.

Ming had removed herself off the Grimm to avoid being struck by the other snake who was helping its friend.

The snakes hissed and recovered, their large red marble like eyes stared soullessly at the samurai, their black and white bodies were connected together to form a two headed snake.

A King Taijitu, most common in Mistral where she was specialized in killing these Grimm, so this should be no challenge at-

The ground suddenly began to shake, like a distant earthquake, but it was getting… stronger?

"YYEEEEEEEEEEEEAAAAHH!" a large beefy grey rhino fanus came stampeding out of the woods and straight for the Grimm, screaming at the top of his lungs in glee.

Mings eyes widened under the helmet, "_Oh no."_ she thought.

She felt another presence next to her and looked over to see Leo, the grey furred porcupine fanus with a recurve bow and his black metallic chest armor, "Sup. Mind if we join in." he gave a sly smirk.

Ming said not a word, but indeed she very well did mind.


End file.
